Learning to focus wholeheartedly on the moment opens the door to learning who we really are.
I believe there is a balance between setting long-term goals and focusing on the moment in order to make progress towards those goals that is beneficial to attain. In fact, I believe this is the optimal arrangement. Not to mention finding ways to enjoy each moment allows us to further persist in pursuing those long-term goals. A word I learned this year is “Autotelic”. This word means that rather than focusing on the destination, we are to focus on enjoying the journey and each passing moment instead. This being the key to true progress and learning. This is applicable to many facets of life including things as important the pursuit of and discovery of the career that is your calling down to things as simple as improving your gaming skills.
I would also like to make reference to a quote from the Buddha: “What do you think, Soṇa? When the strings of your lute were neither too tight nor too loose, but adjusted to a balanced pitch, did your lute make a tuneful sound and was it playable?”. I reference the Buddha as an example of the ever present relevance of balance. Learning consistency through repetition and discipline is important as well to many facets of life, but just as much, it’s important to find joy in the activity that you pursue. Why is this? Because perseverance is learned through a combination of pushing through when it’s hard to continue with your pursuit but also finding joy in the creation of the new habit necessary to achieve your goals and the comfort found in a habit and pursuit that you are truly passionate about or obsessed with.
Many great entrepreneurs (such as Jeff Bezos) have cited the importance of passion in not necessarily attaining success but rather the achievement of incremental goals along the long journey of life. Because, we all know deep down, that progress takes time.
Thank you for reading my first blog post.
– Ren Yasuda