Stop Losing Yourself in the Moment
We’ve all seen it before...the boy sees the girl across the crowded room and is completely smitten...until he walks straight into the door.
You’ve been in the drive-thru waiting patiently for the person in front of you to order...until you realize that you’ve been there for 5 minutes and they are still working on it.
You’ve seen it in the postures of people lost in their phones, or a book, or any number of things. Being “lost in the moment” has been romanticized in literature, music, and nearly every other form of media for as long as I’ve been paying attention and, most likely, for a lot longer than that.
In its place, it’s a beautiful thing...a sunset that completely distracts you from the world around you, the sound of rain that drowns out your surroundings, an intimate gaze that silences the noise and leaves you stranded on an island of your creation with someone you care deeply about...In these sorts of contexts, being “lost” is beautiful, but we’ve taken it too far…
See, these days, our version of being lost in the moment has become a form of selfishness that robs us of our ability to positively impact our world. We’ve allowed distraction to become an altar that we sacrifice our days, our relationships, our dreams, and our families to.
Being “lost in the moment” is no longer the romance-worthy aspiration that poets, lovers, and artists have fought to produce. Instead, we have the commoditized version that’s cheaper, more readily available, and far more negatively impactful than I think we realize.
Generations past, like a LOT of them, things like sugar were rare...So rare that our bodies were created with a strong connection or developed a strong connection to the power of the slightest taste of something sweet. Ancestors would spend days traveling to a hillside known to grow berries, an orange in the Christmas stocking was a treasure beyond compare to my grandparents. But now, sugar and it’s imitations are found everywhere and in everything. Even “natural” flavors have been modified to include sugar or a sugar substitute...and what’s happening? Diabetes, obesity, and other diseases have become commonplace because we’ve commoditized something that was created to remain special.
Just so, we’ve commoditized “moments” into something that we squander. Instead of living lives of PRESENCE, we’ve become acclimated to distraction and scramble for more and more of it. It shows in our relationships...more superficial and fractured than ever before. It shows in our lifestyles...spent pouring our attention into a screen rather than into the lives of others. As is human nature, we’ve traded the especially rare for the cheap, readily available imitation.
What if we decided to flip the script? What if we decided that we were going to live PRESENT in each moment and place the “moments to get lost in” back into their rightful place?
Instead of pouring your energy and your attention into a device designed to hold you captive, pour that energy into a conversation, a daydream, a project, or a relationship...
Instead of living a life consumed with your thoughts, anxiety, and crazy schedule, determine to level up your awareness of the beauty and mystery of the world around you…
Become conscientious as you begin to look for ways to positively impact every single person you come in contact with…from the barista at the coffee shop to the stranger next to you at the stoplight. Become more considerate than you ever have been...think about yourself and the ripples you leave in the world around you as you move through your day.
Intentionally treat people with respect. When you’re at a restaurant and the server brings the ridiculously heavy tray of food, pause your conversation and recognize them...don’t be so engrossed that you can’t claim your meal and you leave them waiting on you.
Be present enough to be decisive, be considerate, think about how your actions impact others...live each day to brighten the day of others.
And then look for those precious moments where something unexpected takes your breath away. Live PRESENT in the moment so that you can lose yourself in the moments that truly count.
It’s in this way that we can begin crafting a world that’s truly worth living in...one surrounded by beauty and mystery and intentional growth that has an impact.
What do you think? Is the effort with the payoff?