Why Are The Journey and The Now the Best Parts?
Because they’re the most real elements of life for everyone.
My wife and I were watching some show on either the Food Network or Cooking Channel. We watch a lot of shows on each network because we both love food. Eating it, cooking it, sharing it with friends. And I, for one, have learned a lot from various shows over the years. For example, my knife skills have massively improved, and I make pretty impressive spice rubs for meats.
Anyhow, on one of these shows the other night, they were sharing a really tasty-looking poutine. If you’re not familiar – poutine is French fries covered in gravy with some form of meat and cheese curds. It is delicious comfort food.
We agreed that we both wanted poutine and found a local restaurant to go get some. Unfortunately, once we got there, it was super loud and crowded (also, not our best call; this was a Saturday night). That didn’t work out, but we still had a lovely date night at an alternative location.
Still, we both heard the call. We wanted poutine. So, my wife had decided we were having it for dinner. We agreed on the protein we wanted to top it with (duck), and went to the grocery store. Ingredients not available at the store: duck and cheese curds.
Were we deterred? Nope. A quick search online found a different grocery store, another chain, that had both. Off we went. The end of the story: We had the makings of poutine and got to enjoy that for our dinner.
The best part of this story? During the journey – and in the now as it happened – I got to spend some quality time with my wife. Time well spent.
Time that matters most
So, yes, it could have been frustrating that we made multiple treks for poutine. First, the drive to the restaurant that failed to get us the meal we wanted. Then, the next day, the trip to the grocery store that was fruitless and required a whole other trip to yet another grocery store might have been frustrating.
But you know what? It was time I got to spend hanging out with the person I care the most about in this world. My wife and I talked, laughed, gossiped, and enjoyed the time together making the journey, relishing the now as it unspooled around us.
This got me to thinking: All too often, the now gets bulldozed over. Thoughts of the past and debating with myself my mistakes, errors, poor choices, missed opportunities, and the like can really overwhelm me in the here and now. Likewise, considerations for the future and goals, ideas, notions, and dreams of what might be can make the now fade out.
Yet, in truth, the only time that’s really, truly real is the now. Only here and now, in this moment, can you genuinely know who, what, where, how, and why you are. And that means being present on the journey, rather than glancing back or looking ahead.
Because when all is said and done, the now and the journey are the best parts of life.
The journey is moving in the now
We live in a society that demands constant, ongoing, heavy performance. Action to have, be, or do this, that, or the other thing. Constant pushes to improve, experience, build, create, and hustle all the time.
Likewise, large swaths of society are always looking to what was because the now is overrun by so many things, many of which make people feel left behind. The world is in constant motion; change is the one and only constant, and for some, that’s incredibly overwhelming.
Hence, it’s easy to just ignore being present, here and now, and taking in the journey of life every day. So many things just are that we ignore, pay little to no attention to, or take for granted that, when all is said and done, matter. More than that, they represent the best parts of life.
I love taking drives with my wife. Her company is my favorite company. Yes, we do many, many separate things in life. We’re not one of those couples attached at the hip and utterly codependent. Hell, I’m about to take my annual 10-day medieval reenactment vacation that she has no interest in joining me for. And, while I’m away, she’s taking a couple days off work to just bask in the stillness of the house to herself (and I won’t disturb her, save text messages for proof of life).
But those moments, those slices of now on the journey, are amazing. And wonderful. And, frankly, I think they’re the best parts.
Why are they the best parts?
Memory is imperfect. I used to subscribe to the notion that hindsight is 20/20. But, no, I’ve come to realize that’s utter bullshit. Hindsight is often fake, embellished, misremembered, edited, biased, or otherwise colored.
The future is unknown because things can and will happen that will alter what it will be. So you can’t know it, no matter what plans you make or things you do.
But the now? This moment, here and now? It’s the most real time that there is. Here and now, the present, you ARE. Right now, reading these words, you’re alive. Pause a moment. Consider your breath. What do you smell? Looking away from the screen, what do you see? Is it warm or cold? What and how are you feeling? All of these can be only answered right here, right now. The time that’s utterly, totally, and wholly real.
This is the best part because this is what it’s truly all about. Being. Living. Experiencing. The nontoxic positivity of being in the moment, on this wild journey that is life, is incredible.
Yes, to be sure, it can utterly suck. You can and will go through terrible, fucked-up shit. But you’ll also experience joy, contentment, satisfaction, and all the good possible.
The now and the journey are the best parts because they are yours to experience. And that, when all is said and done, is the meaning of life. To live. The meaning of life is to experience what it’s all about, the journey that it is, and that’s only authentically possible in the now.
No other animal on the planet has the complexity of thought we do. That’s a gift worth treasuring, and being in the now and recognizing the journey is how to do that.
Knowing why the journey and the now are the best parts isn’t hard
It’s all about practicing active conscious awareness (mindfulness) of your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and the positivity or negativity of your approach to direct your actions.
Recognizing and acknowledging that the now, this moment, is the only time that’s really, truly real, you can make the most of it and take pleasure in all the elements of the journey as it unfolds. Knowing you can’t undo the past or know the truth of the future, you can partake of the journey in the now as you make it, and experience all the many things life has to offer, and relish them.
This empowers you. When you’re empowered, that can, in turn, empower others around you. That’s why I share these weekly posts with you.
Consciously choosing your approach to life towards positivity or negativity — from the vast cylinder that exists between them — shifts life in ways that open you to more potential, possibility, and the like. From there, you can recognize, explore, and share where you are between the extremes and how that impacts you in the here and now.
The more aware you are of yourself in the present, the better you can choose and decide what, how, and why your life experiences will be. When you empower yourself, it can spread to those around you and empower them, too. That is an amazing conduit to help reason overcome fear in the collective consciousness.
Thank you for coming along on this journey.
This is the six-hundred-fiftieth (650) entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energy for everyone. Feel free to share, reblog, and spread the positivity.
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