Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing

 

 

POINT TO PONDER
It seems people are happiest in the moment, when they are able to shut that voice in their head off and get to the tasks at hand.

STORYLINE -- By Rajiv Shah
 
The other day I was driving down freeway on my way to my favorite park. In the backseat was my trusted best friend - my always enthusiastic dog. The window was cracked just enough so she could stick her head outside and enjoy the winds zipping by, lifting her compact, triangular black ears off her head and giving them the appearance of black bats swirling together in a synchronized dance. This little dog was happy. Happy as can be, not a place in the world that she'd rather be than right there in my window getting a natural blow dry from gales of a new day.

Suddenly I felt envious. And that envy continued when we arrived at the park. I let her out and shut the door, my mind still grappling with image of her face blissfully riding the breeze.

Questions raced through my mind. Why are dogs so happy? Why is my dog so content with a simple wind in her face? If I stuck my face out the window, would I receive the same satisfaction?

In the middle of this mental debate warring in my head, I was pulled hard. My dog, no longer concerned with the car ride over was off and immediately onto something else, a healthy rotund squirrel. Up the tree the squirrel went and my dog bounced under, hoping that a fateful misstep would have the chubby little rodent hurtling down towards her. Alas, to my pleasure, the squirrel made it high above, and I felt happy that she didn't get the squirrel. Not because I feared for the squirrel's safety or because I'm a PETA supporter or anything; I was happy because my dog didn't get what it wanted. And then it hit me, the pangs of guilt.

More questions raced to my mind. How could I, as a caring human being, want my dog to be unhappy? Why was I envious of a dog in the first place? Was I bad person for feeling the way I did? And how could I find ways to improve myself? Obviously, this was a sign that I had to get better.

I looked to my dog, prepared to shower her with love to compensate for my ill will - deciding to buy her a pet squirrel if I had to – but at that moment she couldn't have cared less. She was squatted over a nice tuft of grass peeing freely into the greenest parts, a contented and joyous look on her face.

 

REFLECTION
 
A friend once asked me if life is better for a dog. She wondered if dogs were stupid and maybe that's why they had the capacity to feel joy at such high levels. “Ignorance is bliss,” she would say. I have thought about that a lot, about whether our higher functions, our intellect can sometimes get in the way of doing, of living in the moment.It seems people are happiest in the moment, when they are able to shut that voice in their head off and get to the tasks at hand. I wanted to know if dogs had that critical, omnipresent voice that seems to be so well-meaning.

What I found was that noted animal cognition researcher William Roberts studied different species of animals and their ability to remember events in time. According to Mr. Roberts, animals lack the “sophistication” to remember events as humans do, to form memories, to self-edit, their minds committed wholly to the present.

Initially, I wondered how dogs and other animals can remember commands and who we are if they aren't capable of forming memories. Apparently, an animal operates the way a human child would – a child learns to walk, talk, and obey basic commands but cannot necessarily remember when and how they learned how to perform that specific command.

For example, if you've ever done anything where you were so completely entrenched in the doing that you lost track of time and space, that would seem to be the experience of a dog and a child. You didn't think about or remember how you learned that activity, were not mentally editing your relation to it, but just doing it.

Perhaps there is a higher joy in simplicity, in the doing of things in the present moment? Maybe that voice that is so critical of others and yourself is not your best self. The best part exists in the doing, in the moment in front of you, the one in which you do not think but let go and let yourself do.

Comments

[ash]

What a great reflection!

[BH]

Oh so true… a mark of true wisdom I think. Thanks for sharing

[Fan]

LIFE 101: Everything We Wish We Had Learned About Life In School -- But Didn't PART ONE
INTRODUCTION TO LIFE
http://www.mcwilliams.com/books/life1/lf1_1a.htm

A few sentences from the book
I call this book LIFE 101 because it contains all the things I wish I had learned about life in school but, for the most part, did not.

After twelve (or more) years of schooling, we know how to figure the square root of an isosceles triangle (invaluable in daily life), but we might not know how to forgive ourselves and others.

We know what direction migrating birds fly in autumn, but we're not sure which way we want to go.

We have dissected a frog, but perhaps have never explored the dynamics of human relationships.

We know who wrote "To be or not to be, that is the question," but we don't know the answer.

We know what pi is, but we're not sure who we are.

We may know how to diagram a sentence, but we may not know how to love ourselves.

That our educational system is not designed to teach us the "secrets of life" is no secret. In school, we learn how to do everything--except how to live.

Fred Sanford: Didn't you learn
anything being my son?
Who do you think I'm
doing this all for?

[Rami]

Key Message: "their minds committed wholly to the present."

[Sam]

Part of the challenge as we grow older is the set of expectations put on us by society in general. Soon we measure our happiness on how we are matching upto these expectations. A child does not have this understanding and generates happiness of their own experiences, not based on external judgment.

[Analisa]

Nothing compares to the companionship of a dog. They live life in the moment and love unconditionally.

[Bobby]

Such a good critical analysis of what 'happiness' is. When I think about the amount of excitement my dog shows as he welcomes me back home every single day, I am overwhelmed. A tear rolls of my cheek sometimes when I miss him.

I can see how my memory of paltry details deteriorates my ability to be truly lost in a moment, to truly enjoy a moment. I feel I spend too much time comparing different experiences rather than actually savouring the real moment.

Recently, I came across a nice presentation by Martin Seligman on postive psychology (in the following video) and your post helped me appreciate the details of this study by Seligman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FBxfd7DL3E

Cheers.

[Rajiv]

Hi Bobby,

This video is fantastic! Thank you for sharing it with us.

The part I had a thought about was about flow states. Mr. Seligman mentions that when you are in a flow state that you feel nothing, that you are a blank canvas in a way. My experience (and this is only from my point of view) Is that a flow state is actually being filled with uninterrupted emotion that is through an activity without any resistance from the ego, criticism, or rejection. That's why flow states fill us with such meaning after the activity is done - time ceases to exist, allowing a merger between our true internal state and the external world without impediment.

It's the same philosophy Bruce Lee spoke of in relation to martial arts. He entered a flow state while working on that particular discipline. Drive and meaning comes from our internal states manifesting in the external world. And to be able to enter flow and bring it out into the world, you must invest your "emotional content" into it. For him you dont just "kick" but you put your life force, your truest emotion into that kick. You enter flow - reacting externally via your physical body - to an internal, unimpeded emotional impulse. Check out the opening scene from "Enter the Dragon" for this

This video was fantastic and there is much to glean from Mr. Seligman as you can apply it to anything whether you find flow in nature, art, science, math, or your family.

[BHSC]

Good wisdom.. thank you for sharing

[humble warrior]

"The best part exists in the doing" ... ;) fall in love with the process

[Hoping for a blissful life]

In my next life, I want to be one of my own dogs. If we can reincarnate, can we also Time Travel?