A friend of mine had an attitude towards credit cards and charge cards that used to drive me to distraction. If Debbie saw something she wanted, then she bought it and paid by card. Her theory was that she would get great enjoyment from the item right now and payment was something that could be sorted tomorrow – she used to joke that she aimed to die in debt! Sadly, Debbie passed away twelve years ago, and achieved her goal of dying in debt, but my memories of her are of the fun and happiness that she extracted from every moment of her life – in many ways she was the epitome of living in the now and she got more joy out of her forty years than most of us would manage in one hundred.
Sometimes it seems that my life can be summarised as too much to do and not enough time. It feels like I’m working all hours but I’m not making sufficient progress towards my goals.
This feeling creates stress and it’s a vicious circle as the feeling that all the work isn’t being done quickly enough then creates even more stress – long term this will lead to burnout.
For most people too much work creates stress and not getting it done quickly enough creates even more stress. If life feels like that to you then you could be headed towards burnout.
The busier and more complicated our lives get, the more we need to be able to switch off from those stresses that control and restrict us. One idea that is really helping me avoid burnout is the concept of Mindfulness or striving to LIVE IN THE NOW.
Living in the NOW is a very simple concept but unfortunately it’s not as easy as it sounds to achieve. It’s about not mourning the past, not thinking what you could have done better, not worrying about the future, not anticipating tomorrows challenges, but living totally in the present moment.
Almost all happiness happens in the present moment. We feel happy when we really make a connection with someone. We feel happy when we do something that we’re totally absorbed in and love doing. We feel happy when we get completely lost in a piece of music, a book or a film. Being ‘in the now’ – that’s when happiness happens, time just disappears and all we are aware of only what’s happening right now.
Choosing to live in the past or the future not only robs us of enjoyment, but it robs us of truly living. Deep down we all understand that the only important moment is the present moment. When we stay in that moment then we aren’t stressed and we experience happiness.
Click here for an article from Harvard Health Publications to learn more about bringing mindfulness into your every day life.