What If This Is As Good As It Will Ever Get?
I am going to ask you a question that may sound negative; but once you grasp the principle behind it, the answers you give have the potential to profoundly change your life.
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I love asking myself hypothetical questions, and I believe that when they are as close to reality as possible, through the answers we give, hypothetical questions can help us shed light on:
- What we truly want
- What we ought to be doing
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Here is my question for you:
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What if this is as good as it will ever get?
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What if your life (as it is now) is as good as it will ever be?
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Think for a while:
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What if you will never get that perfect partner that you have dreamt of having since your teenage years?
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What if you will never get that 6 figure US$ income that you have looked forward to since you left high school?
What if your recently published book will never become *the* best seller?
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What if that backache will never go away?
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What if things will not get any better than they are?
What will you do?
A number of things perhaps … and to be honest, one of them is that you may get depressed, begin living a miserable life and die! Depending on how you react, that is a possibility but, not one I want to focus on tonight.
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My focus is on some of the positive attitudes you may likely adopt in your life given this predicament.
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1. Appreciation .
I think that you would become more appreciative of the things you have now; you would begin focusing on the bottom half of glass that is full and not the empty half. This can be in your relationships, social networks, health, finances and all the other aspects of your life that you value most.
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2. Innovation
I think that you would become more innovative with the resources you have now; you would begin to make the most of the things you have without having to wait for perfect circumstances. This can be with your time, your money, your knowledge and all the other resourceful things of life.
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3. Happiness
I also think that you would be happy; you would begin living fully NOW. You would never again wait for perfect times to go for that vacation; spend more time with your family; go watch that movie and do all those things you have been postponing.
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The beauty is that with these, your life would very likely get better with time.
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Take Home Lesson
The lesson I want you to take home is embodied in two seemingly opposing statements which the people who have mastered their lives have come to know as representing one truth:
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- You will NEVER have ENOUGH
- Whatever you have is ALWAYS ENOUGH
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Therefore, never postpone living your life NOW because you are waiting for a perfect time in the future … because:
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- That time will never come
- That time is Now
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Contradictory perhaps, but true;
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Thank you.
Please Note: This is My 3rd Toastmasters Speech (as prepared for delivery, today 22nd April 2010)
Christopher, I so appreciate that I’ve found someone else who’s as willing to skirt around the darker side of things to find the light. Yes, life is one big paradox. There are struggles, but there are also triumphs. There is emptiness but there is also fullness. There is pain but there is also joy. Each and every day is meant for living. And each one of us is meant to live as full a life as possible. The choice to do so is, as always, ours.
Thank you for this post.
Belinda,
Thanks. Its great to have come across your blog. As you say in your blog tag line, its really about “choosing positivity” even in seemingly dark “realities” of life. Light or Darkness, i think that life’s message is one: “Each and every day is meant for living”.
Thanks.
Christopher, thank you for your beautiful encouragement which I will take with me as I go to sleep. Your powerful post looks into the heart of things – and you emerge grateful and smiling. When we have the courage to accept the contradictions, to be aware of the paradoxes of our existence, life becomes very much here, real, in the now of what we are and what is in this moment.
From the mountains of Japan, an almost midnight goodnight to you – Catrien Ross.
Thats a beautiful comment Catrien. I think that duality (real or illusion) is a necessary evil. The apparent “contradictions” are what makes experiencing life possible. They are reference points for new experiences. Its all good.
From the Southern African country of Zambia, i thank you.
I love the picture Chris and you always seem to have a way of capturing something special in just a few short words ‘Whatever you have is ALWAYS ENOUGH’
Just wow!
Amit!!
Good to know you loved that!
Congrats on becoming a Toastmaster. I’ve been in TMI for about 5 years or so. It is a great way to enhance leadership skills and is also a great networking opportunity. For me, mentoring developing leaders and professionals with their communication goals has been very rewarding. Good luck on your the rest of your CC manual
Ralph,
Thanks. I am really having a great time at Toastmasters. I have only been a member for 5 months and can’t even begin to imagine how valuable you have found it having been there for 5 solid years; Thats great! i mean all the experiences and stories you have to tell. An enriching experience it must be.
I like the positive approach you have suggested here. And I also want to add that we should accept the disappointments in our lives and go past by them.
Walter,
Thanks.
About disappointments in life, what you have said is so true. I also love what is said in the Incomplete Manifesto of Growth, “allowing yourself to experience events… and become changed by them”
The power is in allowing yourself to experience events.
Great post Kabamba. If this is as good as it gets, then I think we would start appreciating the things we have in life. I think most people are trying to chase things in life and as a result, their minds are always in the future. I like how you mention that if we focus on the now, it makes life more appreciative and happier. Thank you.
Thanks Hulbert.
It is not always the easiest of things to do, given our conditioning; and it has been spoken of, so often that it becomes like a cliche but i have tried, tested and tasted ..”living in the moment” is the best way to live.
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