The belief that every moment must be maximized or monetized or used for some greater “Purpose” is destructive to the the very happiness we claim to seek.
By searching for it “out there” we miss that it is right here.
If my happiness at this moment consists largely in reviewing happy memories and expectations, I am but dimly aware of this present. I shall still be dimly aware of the present when the good things that I have been expecting come to pass. For I shall have formed a habit of looking behind and ahead, making it difficult for me to attend to the here and now. If, then, my awareness of the past and future makes me less aware of the present, I must begin to wonder whether I am actually living in the real world. — Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for the Age of Anxiety
One thing I’ve noticed is that when the activities of my life are merely a means to an end of monetization, content creation, or some other “Productivity” goal — or when I seek to find a greater capital-P “Purpose” in every moment of my day — I end up feeling like my life is devoid of real meaning.
I’m coming around to the understanding that not every moment is intended to be recorded, annotated, and shared. Not every moment can — or should — be monetized.
Some moments are meant purely to experience.
Paradox as it may seem, we likewise find life meaningful only when we have seen that it is without purpose, and know the “mystery of the universe” only when we are convinced that we know nothing about it at all. — Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity
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