Paying Attention

In Reimagining the Good Life, Michael Schuler asks "Is the quality of our attention such that we accurately perceive what's going on around us and inside ourselves?"

Paying attention is something I have been working on for the last year. It is easy to distract myself with the Internet, music, books, work, etc.. But turning them off and just being there makes it easier to put things in perspective and to value what you have.

Since last January, I have been reading a number of Buddhism books and started practicing yoga and occasionally attending group meditations. I also give myself time just to think and be, without having to accomplish anything or be any certain way. I have found that in the past I got caught up in how I "should" live, and this interferes with my enjoyment and appreciation of how I already am living. By being still and pausing for just one or two minutes a day, I find that I am more appreciative and perceptive of how I am currently living my life. I don't get as caught up in what could happen, what did happen, or what is happening to others - rather I can pay more attention to how I am feeling and thinking and being.

I would like to create a stronger meditation practice, but if at the very least I am truly present for at least a moment each day, I do feel a noticeable difference in my perspective and enjoyment of life.

Living the Good Life

I regularly "borrow" books from my dad's library, often ones I have bought him as presents. At Thanksgiving, I borrowed Making the Good Life Last, Four Keys to Sustainable Living, by Michael Schuler, a Unitarian Universalist minister in Madison, Wisconsin. My dad has been interested in Stoicism and living the good life for a while, so this book seemed a good choice for him. Having read similar books from my dad's library, I also had to read this one.

Making the Good Life Last focuses on four premises:

• pay attention,
• stay put,
• exercise patience, and
• practice prudence.

Schuler delves into each of these premises for sustainable living, providing context and examples. Pay attention involves such things as meditation and being in the present moment, along with just noticing your life and your community. Staying put argues for staying in one place instead of being as mobile as modern Americans are now. Exercising patience and practicing prudence each apply to so many parts of our lives. They involve such things as being patient with our careers, families, levels of satisfaction with life, material wants and needs, etc. While reading the book, I found that over the years I have learned similar lessons and am in agreement with him.

In the coming weeks, I plan to post on each of the four premises separately. Stay tuned...