We all strive towards that day. The day of fulfillment, of happily ever after. The day when we will finally be rid of the feeling that there is something missing.
We strive towards that day although we know that it will never come. Why is it so impossible to live here and now?
Is it the “film” we keep running in our heads, which lets emotions and (false) ideas of what is happening, of what people will think and how you will be judged take over our minds? Or maybe our cultural heritage which empresses to remind us, at times when things are fine, that nothing lasts forever and that we somehow will have to pay for the pleasure we are experiencing? Or could the reason be a more modern one – the frustrating optimisation-seeking that installs the doubt: even if things are satisfactory, they are probably even better somewhere else..?
But then there are the Moments: when you succeed in getting out of your head, when you are not only experiencing the moment but participating in creating it. When you cannot imagine that there is a better place to be. Passionate moments, when you feel fully alive. moments of presence, of action, which open you and enable you to take in and understand situations, people, possibilities…
Some attain these moments through meditation, others through practising art or sports, yet others through the contact with nature.
It is a focus: the image of life distinguishes out of a blur.
Being here and now does not mean simply profiting from these good, fulfilling moments. It also means living the bad or awkward ones more strongly. It seems depressing and hard – and it is – but it also implies a better understanding of the situation and a construction towards being able to master it. Because being here and now also implies assuming our less honourable selves, which isn’t easy. Taking things in will inevitably mean that we see ourselves more objectively. This can prove insufferable. Hence, we easily slip into dreams about other times and places, when the parts of the puzzle will all fall into the right place by themselves.
Blocking our connection with the present is also the idea of the big changes. We think that one big event will change our life forever. Whereas, like in the theory of the butterfly effect, small decisions and actions prove crucial more often than not. If we look at our lives, mostly unexpected events, seemingly insignificant, have steered them and proven highly influential.
That would mean that every instant englobes a multitude of possibilities, millions of seeds of potential future events, big and small, possibly life-changing. It is as scary as it is reassuring – but it proves the importance of seeking presence in the present.
People & Places intends to offer a dwelling of inspiration. We hope that you will feel at home in this place and with the people that you will encounter.
Simply – that our here and now will be a fulfilling one.
