Sometimes I look to Ted the Terrier for a lack of inspiration, as against inspiration. Simplicity of life can be seen in Ted. He lives in the moment, and yesterday saw him munch on a bone, and that was it. Not complicated. He was happy and ignoring me.
A Terrier tucking into a bone, or for that matter just watching Ted always reminds me to keep it in the present and that we humans can over complicate things. Happiness can come from simplicity, and it can also come from the moment. Just focusing on your particular bone moment.
Now I am not suggesting we head out, buy a bone, and go caveman. We have to live in the modern age. For example, you are reading a blog entry on a SquareSpace site via a browser, potentially on a hand held device - pretty complicated stuff.
What I find is that when tasks and life can overwhelm me, I remind myself I am living in the moment and thus ought to deal with what I have to deal with now. And that could also include doing nothing. It brings me back to myself and my inner spirit and the task or moment in hand. It is quite a grounding and relieving feeling. At times when the world crowds in on me I sometimes see what Ted is up to and study him. The sheer simplicity of his life reminds me we actually only have the moment to enjoy and live in because if we dwell in the past we miss now, likewise for the future. Sometimes watching animals or for that matter nature shows how the natural flow leads to happiness or contentment.
As I said earlier we humans do like to complicate things, and after all we are animals with a big brain, so maybe going for a walk, looking at birds, the squirrel in the garden, or plain looking out of the window is all that is needed to curtail being spun around in the whirlpool of humanity.
At the moment a lot of people are struggling due to a lot of factors outside of the control of the average person. Uncertainty can lead to looking back and looking forwards and not being in the now. That is not to recognise what has been and what may come, it is more to switch off to these two things. Humans are very time conscious and nature and animals are not, well apart from seasons. The point being that life is being lived as I type and nature and animals don’t think of time.
Try and be happy now. Take a leaf out of Ted’s book and focus on your “current bone”.
The past is to be learned from but don’t live it.
Likewise don’t live in the future. What will happen, will happen, especially in the current climate. And you present moment could be to write down some goals. There is nothing wrong with planning.
Try to view life like a Ted - unclouded, uncomplicated, in the moment as one will achieve the task in hand.
Don’t let yourself steal the happiness of the moment from yourself.
Life is hard, but living now opens up a huge perspective. You see and hear things.
Nature, animals, the universe. Get out in it, even if busy. It will bring you back to now and take you from time wasting maybes or has been’s. I mention time in this bullet point, but ask yourself what actually is time?
Footnote:
“Dug” is the Scottish term for “dog”. My wife Claire is from Hamilton and the term is used all the time. I like it.