Yesterday, I had a good day. This is a time acknowledged by everyone and should be benchmarked — noted as a point of meaning — I believe. We don’t often get a really fine day, do we? I awoke early, before the alarm in fact, and felt refreshed. As I did my yoga, thoughts of righteousness and prosperity washed over me. The negative, for an instant, tried to intrude. I had a momentary feeling of terror that perhaps I had misplaced a file. A cursory look into my briefcase attested to the fact that my memory had served me admirably. The file was still in its proper place: all was well. As we age chronologically, the mind is strengthened by happy days and positive memories. And, we are not to forget, this is in the most proverbial of senses.
It is pointless; I am convinced, to linger on what was. This is like a wound that is allowed to fester. The joyous days are the antidote to the anxiety felt by the soul, the inner self. They expunge or at least mitigate the frustrations that all thinking beings must endure. Much of our civilization is fixated on history, both personal and societal. Why? Yes, there are lessons to be derived from anything and everything. We live in a society that places an inordinate emphasis on physical beauty and its concomitant friend, beauty – attractiveness in the 21st century, that is. One only has to return to paintings from the Dutch Golden Age (1568-1700), for example, (1) to see how our aesthetic concepts have changed over time.
But the past is the past. It only has value when I mentally bring it back to the present and reignite its pain – pointless! This is easy to say and extremely hard to do. Sadly, “life brooks no weakness,” meaning that it will come to its natural close whether it ends in success and peace or failure and suffering. To paraphrase Sadhguru (b. 1957): “If I could only control this piece of life, would I not want to make it happy?” The answer should be a resounding, “Yes, of course.” Even worse: we are all naturally happy.
It is one of our four innate states (to be happy, to be peaceful, to be loving and to seek fulfillment). A trek through any busy thoroughfare or shopping center, on a Sunday, however, will easily convince you that humanity has a lot of work to do. The vast majority of people do not look happy. Why not? This is because, the journey into the self, like any epic adventure, is an arduous one. There are no general solutions or all-encompassing statements. Life, my life, is an individual commitment to the self. Only I can analyze it and, ultimately, judge it. As my friend J.A. Earl often says. “Your opinion about me is not my concern,” meaning that it is only how I feel about myself, my self-esteem or self-respect, that has any intrinsic value.
The Internet has done the most harm to adolescents in this area, I maintain. We are subjected to countless images every day on social media and in the news. Most are nonsensical. But, the truly dangerous ones subtly alter your mind as to how you should think, what you should buy or how you should look. As older adults, we know the correct answers, or at least should. The young are not so fortunate. This should be our mantra to everyone: “Learn to think critically.” When we do this en masse, the civilization will change. We will receive a lot more good days. The iconic KISS rock and roll legend, Gene Simmons (b. 1949), leaves us with a thought: My mother had a horrific life. At fourteen, she was in the Nazi concentration camps. (2) Her sense about life now is, every day above ground is a good day.
A closing thought: To many people, concepts such as “personal growth” sound more like hocus pocus from some imaginary cult that they do about life. It is true, nonetheless, that the only person who, I know, truly woke up this morning is me. I am alone. This is a powerful statement for it means that, given the “givens,” (3) as the existentialists say, I am free to be me. My career in life is to discover all of me. I can have no regrets. They are pointless in a life well lived.
To sum up: This week, we spoke about remembering our really good days and using those memories as fuel to drive our life forward.
A philosophical question: Why don’t we have more really good days?
Just for fun – Oscar
This week, on your quiet walk, please ask yourself, “Is today one of those days?”
Every day look for something magical and beautiful.
Quote: I must remind myself that today is a very special day for it is unique and will only visit once.
Footnotes:
1) Art from the Dutch Golden Age
2) The System