“The feeling that any task is a nuisance will soon disappear if it is done in mindfulness.”
– Thich Nhat Hahn
We can spend large parts of our days wishing we were engaged in something else.
This feeling can manifest in our work, perhaps we are midway through a task or meeting we would rather not be in. Or it can crop up elsewhere, perhaps at a party we feel obliged to be at but would really rather not be attending.
What this all amounts to is spending our time unmindfully. Too many of these moments linked together can swiftly lead to wishing our time, and by default lives, away.
To identify where we fall on this spectrum, we can ask ourselves some questions:
How often are we truly in a task?
How often are we in a moment?
How much of our day is spent invested in the present?
What we uncover may surprise us.
Mindful Reflection
To redress the balance, we can try to live our lives more mindfully. We can come back to this moment.
We can understand that our life is made up of such moments. To rush by them misses the point. And the point is to live.