BY JEFF CORBETT
Some years ago, psychologist William Marston asked 3,000 people this question: “What are you living for?”
Some 94 percent of the respondents gave roughly the same answer — they were enduring the present and waiting for the future.
So are you living for the future, or are you living in the moment?
American clergyman George Washington Burnap tells us that “the grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”
Live each day fully and make these essentials your reality.
What’s your Ikigai?
You are probably asking, ”What on earth is Ikigai?”
It’s a Japanese term (actually two words put together). “Iki” means “life,” and “gai” is “purpose.”
So this term refers to your life’s purpose, your calling. And there are many similar translations.
I call it “the reason you get out of bed in the morning.”
In his TED Talk, Tim Tamashiro tells us Ikigai is also a verb with many meanings, including:
♦ To Serve;
♦ To Provide;
♦ To Teach:
♦ To Create;
♦ To Heal;
♦ To Delight;
♦ To Connect;
♦ To Build; and
♦ To Nourish
Each Day is a Gift
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “The days come and go like muffled and veiled figures sent from a distant friendly party, but they say nothing, and if we do not use the gifts they bring, they carry them silently away.”
Many of us mindlessly trudge through the day-to-day while looking down the road toward some huge prize or success when, in reality, a life well-lived is the combination of a number of ‘todays’ lived to their fullest extent.
Social scientists tell us the happiest people are not those who experience some rare windfall or fortunate event, such as winning the lottery, but instead are those who find great pleasure and joy in the smaller accomplishments, social encounters, and successes of their daily lives.
Worry is the Enemy of Living
One reason I find that people don’t live in today is that we are consumed about what might happen in the future. We worry and moan “What if…?” We imagine all kinds of terrible scenarios and outcomes. Truthfully, how often has what you worried about actually occurred?
Mark Twain was spot-on when he quipped, “I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.” Instead of spending your mental energy worrying about an uncertain future, pour that energy into making today the very best it can be. When you do this, tomorrow will take care of itself.
Living Today Requires Action
Living in the future is easy. We formulate great plans, see ourselves rich, famous, happy, retired or whatever. Then we sit back and wait.
It reminds me of the woman who, every Saturday morning, prayed fervently, “Dear Lord, please, please let tonight be the night I win the lottery!”
And that night, she goes to bed empty-handed.
Next week it was the same thing, and the next, and the next.
Finally, one Saturday morning when the lady was praying, the booming voice of the Divine, fed up with these weekly requests, called out her name. “Helen! Helen!”
“Is that you, Lord?”
“Yes!” the great voice resounded.
The lady complained “Every Saturday morning I’ve prayed to win the lottery, and every Saturday night I go to bed disappointed. What gives?”
“Helen, do me a favor, and meet me halfway. At least buy a ticket!”
To have a fulfilling life, you must do things and immerse yourself. Being a spectator does not serve you well.
Remember, dreams only become reality with action.
Live Like You Were Dying
Do you remember the famous Tim McGraw refrain?
I went sky diving;
I went Rocky Mountain climbing;
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu.
And I loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying.
And he said, Some day I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dying.
My wife died at age 39, and knew she was departing with many things left undone. In one of our last conversations, she said, “Jeff, please promise me that you and the boys will live every day to the fullest, and not let life slip by you.”
I’d like to think she’d be proud.
Success in life, however you define it, is waiting for you, but you must squeeze all the juice out of every day.
Let’s end with two thoughts to ponder, the first from Mark Twain, as a challenge to cut off the TV, get off the couch, and do something fresh and new, to start living every day as if it’s your last because one day you’ll be right.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover!”
And heed Hunter S. Thompson’s advice: “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, “Wow! What a Ride!”
Jeff Corbett is an experienced public speaker, meeting facilitator and sales and marketing professional. He lives in Statesville. He can be reached at jeff@speak-well.com.