Sunday 29 September 2013

Possibility




I've just realised it's nearly the end of September and I've yet to write a blog post this month. So, returning to an old aid of inspiration, I put my MP3 player on random, choosing to use the song it stops at as a theme... The song I landed on was 'Possibility' by Lykke Li.

And that got me to thinking, is it ever really possible to 'live in the moment', completely in the moment, without thoughts of the past or the future, clouding our judgement, or expectations?

I don't think I'm particularly good at 'living in the moment', though the older I get, the more I appreciate simpler things, which kind of controls your expectations. I'm quite fond of the word 'possibility' as it holds a certain exciting sense of anticipation... But if you believe the buddhists, true happiness is found if you learn to live in the present moment, without dwelling on the past, or worrying about the future.

That got me to thinking some more, and I came to the conclusion that I probably am happiest when I get totally lost in a moment. This can happen when I'm engrossed in artwork, writing, watching an enjoyable film, listening to music, and most powerful - when engaged in conversation with someone who truly engages me - that sensation where the rest of the room disappears and you're only aware that you're experiencing the sensation if someone tries to cut in on your conversation.
To me, those are the times where I know I'm truly living in the moment and it's a good feeling.

This weekend I watched a couple of interesting documentaries about the West Memphis Three (a brief summary: this is a famous case where three teenage boys were convicted of murdering three young boys, based on a lot of flimsy circumstancial evidence). I don't want to go into too much detail about the case, as that would take a whole other blog post, but I really liked this quote, which Eddie Vedder from Pear Jam (who supported the accused), read from Damien Echols' (the one sentenced to life) journal:

'There's no such thing as time.
There's no such thing as the past, it only exists in the memory.
There's no such thing as the future, it's only in our imagination.
If our watches were truly accurate the only thing they would ever say, is now.'


I'm going to end with an extract from T.S Elliot's 'Four Quartets' as I really like the last line:

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope,
for hope would be hope for the wrong thing.
And wait without love.  For love would be love,
of the wrong thing. 
Yet there is faith.
But the faith and the hope and the love, are all in the waiting.
And the darkness shall be the light
and the stillness the dancing. 
                                             T.S. Elliot





8 comments:

  1. Living in the moment can be good (if it's a good moment) but looking back on happy events can give us pleasure and so can looking forward to things. If the present moment isn't that great there's always the possibility things will improve.

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    1. I agree, Patsy, looking to the past and future can definitely have positives too.

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  2. Thank you for such an inspiring post, Vikki. I love the quotes you have chosen. I like the notion of possibility. I have a tendency to dwell, sometimes too much, on the past. But usually the dwelling brings me happiness and helps to ignite my imagination for the writing too. I don't tend to live with too many expectations, but with hopefulness. x

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    1. I like that notion - living with not too many expectations, but with hopefulness! And certainly past events have offered me some food for thought when it comes to writing

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  3. Love that interesting post, Vikki - and the beautiful quotes. I'm not a fan of dwelling on the past (though it becomes more vivid as we age sometimes!) and don't do regrets as there's no point. But I do like the possibility of things to come as that keeps hope and anticipation alive. Living in the moment is perfect for creativity.

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    1. Engaging in creative things definitely makes me appreciate the 'now' but I agree, it is exciting to contemplate the possibilities (especially when hitting that 'send' button!)

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  4. Great quotes Vikki, and I love the idea of watches just saying 'NOW'. I think I want one of those! It would definitely help with the 'living in the moment', as opposed to worrying about the past or the future.

    I also love the idea - or the possibility - of being lost in a moment or lost in flow. We should all be 'flowing' as often as IS possible to harness our creativity. The time is now!

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    1. Even better, our mantra should be 'my time is now' - never know what that might manifest!

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