What makes us relish the present? We spend so much of our lives looking forward to the next occasion / holiday / stage - is it really about merely appreciating the punctuation of life? The bracketed holidays; the semi-colonated joy of an achievement; the new paragraph that marks the beginning of a change?
On holiday recently I reflected at how much we laughed. By golly we laughed. And it felt fabulous. But why was this a remarkable point? Of course, smiles and chuckles are part of our everyday existence (well, for most of us), but real, heartfelt, uncontrollable laughter that leaves everyone with an overwhelming tendency to sigh, "Oh dear..." as the laugh collapses into minor aftershocks - that shouldn't be a special feature. It should be the main reel.
So how to make this a continuous soundtrack, instead of merely an advert break? (Just run with the continuing mixed metaphors; you'll get used to it eventually, dear reader.) I think it's simple:
- Spend more time with friends - and the key phrase here (and in the rest of this list) is "spend... time". It's only when we stop focusing on the event and start simply being ourselves in each others' company that spontaneous fun really comes to life.
- Spend more time in situations that make us happy. Feel guilty sitting in the sun / in front of an omnibus one Saturday afternoon? Why? Why let the Protestant work ethic make us feel obliged to be productive whenever we've got a run of more than 10 consecutive minutes?
- Spend more time just being. Stop flooding ourselves with TV (not doing too badly on this one), or DVD box sets (quite guilty), or iPhone games (v guilty), and start interacting with our entertainment. Go to the theatre more - get physically involved in the atmosphere of a story. Exercise (it does make you feel better). Read (note to self: must get back in the habit of doing this every night). Write (trying...).
Life is here. Life is now. It's not on the next page, or even just a little bit further down from where you're reading. Write your own sentence.
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