Summary

The article emphasizes the importance of being present in the moment as the key to a fulfilling life in 2022.

Abstract

The article "How Being Present can Be the Most Important Thing You Do in 2022" reflects on the significance of mindfulness and living in the present. The author shares a personal sense of loss and disconnection from past years, realizing that the inability to remember days and months is due to not being fully present. The most vivid memories are attributed to moments of full presence and aliveness. The author argues that one's best life is not confined to the past but can be experienced daily by embracing the present. Drawing inspiration from Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist," the article suggests that the treasure we seek is found within, in the current moment. It cites a Harvard study indicating that our minds wander half the time, leading to a loss of life's experiences and happiness. The article posits that being present enhances happiness, seizes opportunities, and enriches meaningful work, contrasting it with the fleeting nature of desires. It concludes by encouraging readers to use presence as a tool to fully experience life in 2022.

Opinions

The author believes that the inability to recall past days and months is a consequence of not being fully present.
The most memorable and impactful moments in life are those in which we are fully engaged and alive.
Our best moments don't have to be relegated to memories; they can be part of our daily experience by being present.
The treasure we seek, as metaphorically represented in "The Alchemist," is already within us, buried in the present moment.
A Harvard study is referenced to highlight that a wandering mind leads to missing out on half of our experiences and contributes to unhappiness.
Being present is not only crucial for happiness but also for recognizing and grasping life's opportunities and creating deeply meaningful work.
The pursuit of desires is compared to an endless search for treasure, which can cause one to overlook the journey and the present moment.
The author suggests that happiness, love, and peace are not destinations but the paths themselves, accessible through presence.

How Being Present can Be the Most Important Thing You Do in 2022

Be present enough to notice your absence.

I am sad.

I feel cheated.

Another year has gone by. Another one just began.

I try too hard to recall the days, and the months have gone, but I can’t.

“Did I lose my memory or what?” I silently ask myself.

It is tragic when I keep counting the number of years I have lived, and the number of breaths I have taken, yet I have missed the one important thing. The thing that makes all the difference.

Being present. Living fully.

The most memorable days are the days we are fully alive We all have those days.

Those moments you can’t even put into words. It would do them a great injustice.

I have them too.

I love them to bits. I miss them. I ache for them.

The be honest, I had my highs, and my worst lows during those moments, but something was different about them.

I was present.

I was alive.

Those memories have stuck with me for years.

Now, I want them back.

I want to live them every day of my life, not just in my memory but in every waking moment.

Your best life doesn’t have to be in your memory bank

The good news is that:

You don’t have to look anywhere else.
You don't have to time travel to the past or the future.
You don’t have to pay money to get them.
You don’t have to go anywhere else.

Your treasured moments are here with you. In this present moment.

Being present is the new treasure

In Paulo Coelho’s book, The Alchemist, Santiago travels from his homeland to the Pyramids of Egypt in search of a treasure.

His search comes to an end when he discovers all along that the secret treasure was buried within.

Your treasure is wrapped in this very moment. It has been here all along.

The million-dollar question is, where have you been?

A study by psychologists Matthew A. Killingsworth, and Daniel Gilbert of Harvard University established that our minds wander 47% of our waking time.

Most of the time we are on autopilot, and we are barely aware of what we are doing, where our minds have wandered to, and how long we have been wandering.

That means we are missing 50% of our life. No wonder I feel cheated.

How often our minds leave the present, and where they tend to go is a better predictor of our happiness than the activities in which we are engaged.

Being absent is not just a killer of happiness. It is also:

an assassin of life
a thief of opportunities
a destroyer of beautiful memorable moments
a terminator of goals, and dreams
a robber of deeply meaningful work

Being present is the new happy.

It is not the size of the event it is the size of your presence.

In the Peaceful Warrior movie, Dan Millman is unable to hold his excitement about what he is about to discover. Socrates, promises him a surprise. A treasure at the top of a mountain.

As they climb the steep mountain, Dan is thrilled. He feels tired but he keeps pushing. All along his mind is fixated on the treasure. He forgets to live through the journey.

He misses seeing, feeling, tasting, touching, and hearing everything along the way. And then his anticipation is crushed when he discovers the treasure was just a simple stone.

The stone represents our desires. Often after we get them we usually tend to forget them almost immediately. The journey up another mountain begins. Another desire is just a stone's throw away.

Are you willing to throw away your life for a price of an insatiable, and impermanent desire?

There is no path to happiness, happiness is the path.

There is no path to love, love is the path.

There is no path to peace, peace is the path.

As you count your blessings also count your presence.

Being present can change even the seemingly small things to great things.

Being present is like the Sunglasses that Guy used in the Free City movie to free his life, and that of his friends. With the invaluable sunglasses, Guy could see, be, touch, smell, taste, and do things others couldn’t.

We also need the sunglasses of awareness to experience the fullness, and richness of life.

Being present is the tool you can use to unstuck your life in 2022, and experience life fully.

This year can be the year that takes away your breath only if you deliberately decide to be fully present.