There are things that are easy.

It’s easy to run from one thing to another, without paying any attention to the present (which is the only time that actually exists in this world)

It’s the easiest thing in the world.

It’s also easy to get caught up in ideas that are not yours.

In fact, most of the ideas and thoughts you have in your mind right now are not purely yours, you’ve heard them by someone, read them somewhere and so on.

The thoughts that are truly yours are dots you’ve connected by yourself. Maybe some people out there have reached the same conclusion as you, maybe some of them described the same idea in other words, but generally speaking, the idea is yours  in the sense that you built the network of neurons that lead to this pattern of thinking by yourself and haven’t got it prepared for you from external source.

If you haven’t connected the dots by yourself, you haven’t truly understood it.

So… When and how can we connect the dots by ourselves, hence reach a full understanding?

It can only happen when you have real-life experience.

Why am I telling you this and how it can help you change your perspective and deepen your understanding of life?

Yes, you can be exposed to an idea by reading something somewhere or hearing something by someone.

Yes, you can “know” or “perceive” some idea without having to go through it personally.

Sure.

With that being said…

It’s only when you confirm that idea by experiencing it in your own life that you can truly connect with that idea and understand it on a much deeper level.

2018 was a tough year for me, I’ve learned many things throughout that year, including things about myself, and things about the world.

Not only did I learned them, but I was able to confirm ideas that I know now to be true on a deeper level.

But how did I do that?

One of the most interesting things that I’ve learned is ‘Simply having life experience is not enough’. I wouldn’t understand those ideas in the same profound manner if I wasn’t in the moment.

The key to a deeper understanding of life which allows you to learn the most important lessons you will ever learn is not only to have real-life experience but to be actually present!

In fact, only when I was in the moment, and experienced life without having anxiety for the future, or being stuck in my head with irrelevant thoughts, could I have the opportunity to learn something for real and actually see things differently.

Real learning is when you’re experiencing something on an emotional level and you deeply understand the meaning of it in our world. The only way to do so is to be in the moment and be connected to the present, which is what life is all about if you think about it.

I’ll give you an example… For me, simply having emotions for one specific girl after dozens of girls I’ve dated who I couldn’t care less about – opened my eyes to the idea of love, to the idea of a deeper connection with another human being.

Until then, I was on a ritual of having superficial low-quality interactions, and I thought it was “me”.

If I wasn’t in the moment, I could easily overlook the connection that was established with that particular girl, telling my self “It’s another girl, one of many, that feeling will pass..”, yet instead – I stopped my life for a moment, and observed deeply into my soul.

What I’ve found out was life-changing for me, and I hope it will be for you too.

I simply asked myself: What is that feeling?

Should I really ignore that feeling and move on to the next girl because that’s part of my identity/strategy/routine?

“Maybe I am missing something…” I wondered.

Only because I actively chose to self-criticize my identity which was based on auto-pilot ritual, and reframe the routine I was stuck in, I was able to have an epiphany that has changed my perspective in a dramatic way.

Only when you freeze your life, take a deep breath, embracing the moment objectively and ask yourself honest questions – can you dig deep enough into your soul and learn something new about yourself or about the world.

We are in a constant pursuit in our daily lives, to a point where we don’t have the very little time needed to reflect on our life. It can really be just a couple of minutes. It’s worth more than anything you pursue, trust me.

Only when you stop everything you do on auto-pilot, challenge your thinking and routine and start to see what is in front of you objectively, can you understand things to the fullest. Until then, you only knew things on a superficial level, on the surface. It isn’t a real understanding of the situation you’re in.

Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.

– Thomas Carlyle

Sometimes, all you have to do is to open your eyes. Just change the way you view at things, and you’ll be amazed by the results.

Stop overanalyze in the wrong direction, just clear your head and be in the moment. Meditate, practice mindfulness, whatever helps you be there, just be there, and see how you understand things more profoundly.

It works like magic, and it’s fun also 🙂

When on auto-pilot, we simply cannot achieve a true understanding of the experiences we go through, because we constantly think about the next event and next goal and the next day and the next thing.

Always next-next-next, what’s next? It usually accompanied by anxiety to some degree, which obviously doesn’t contribute you in any way I can think of.

Most of us aren’t there in life, paying attention to the beautiful things that were given to us by God. From my experience, being in any place and time that is not HERE, RIGHT NOW is simply a waste of time.

The best way you can spend your time here on planet earth is to be fully present – 100% at the moment, smiling for no reason, and enjoying the deep experience of life, while you learn its mysterious secrets.

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Until next time,

Gal.