You do not need much to enjoy your life

In the warm afternoon sun, spring with a touch of summer and possible vibrations of winter with the chilling breeze, I found myself waiting in front of Zen (a Japanese restaurant) for an order a colleague had placed.

I usually accompany him on these mini trips to get food because he is Italian and knows all the best places to get just the right delicacy and cuisines, price-quality ratio. He asked about my plans for the weekend and I said the same thing I said last week, “sleep, write.”

He asked if I was going to take advantage of the great weather, I responded, “I should but I am not sure.” Right there, I made a plan to take a short trip to a palace I visited last summer with a scenic view to write there.

The next words from his mouth inspired this piece: “You do not need much to enjoy your life.” This phrase is a common everyday word but it belies such efficacy that is easy to miss without introspection. If you listen closely to people, you can tell if they are living a content life or the opposite.

I find this man interesting because he had also said to me previously on another lunch adventure, “You could get a partner if you think your life is missing something.” I never thought of it this way, that some people do not seek partnership or love interest simply because they find everything they need in themselves.

Back to the subject matter.

What makes for an interesting or enjoyable life?

The answer to this question is the many novels that are everyday people’s lives. I also think that depending on our station in life this answer also varies. What is interesting to a baby certainly differs from an adult’s preoccupation.

I have been pondering this question to decipher its meaning.

Some people lead interesting lives just by being or by curiosity, for some others, by stumbling and serendipity. Take the character “Thomas” for example in peaky blinders. He lived so much on the edge, daring to be as he imagined, that eventually, his thinking had to match up with his reality and consequent reputation so much that he was certain that every decision he was making was the right one.

For many of us, we occupy ourselves with plagiarism. We want to imitate other people’s interests or even be a part of them without spending the time to curate our interests and it is true that some people lead quite an interesting life and know how to seem interesting but it is that they are interested that makes or keeps them interesting.

Now, it is midnight and I am awake trying to write about an interesting life. Is it enough to seek an interesting life, to be novaturient? or is it living it that carries more weight but who is measuring?

Someone said to me: “I am a professor because I profess” Is it possible to say I have an interesting life merely because I crave it even when I cannot articulate its meaning in my mundane existence?

These questions are rhetorical of course, but if I could ask one thing directly now, it’s “What is the one thing or what are the things you want to add to your life right now to make life more enjoyable?”

The answer to this question is not as simple as it appears. Maybe for some, it is but I am certain that the majority will base this answer on what they most desire at the moment whether it is a better-paying job, romantic interest, kids, a new house or car, friends, more money and sure these things can change the trajectory of one’s life to a more stable or chaotic direction depending on viewpoint but is the essence of life about acquiring more or simply that this is enough?

I used to think that we should live in pursuit of happiness but lately, I am revising this rationale-why does happiness have to be ahead of me such that I am constantly seeking it in pursuit? What if I am not fast enough to catch up with it? Why can’t happiness be right where I am. I think that our reality is shaped by our participation in it.

At our core, we are lured by the things we imagine and these imaginations attract our path or in fact, create them.

so, what is needful?

If I were to allude biblically to the passage where Jesus paid a visit to Mary and Martha and he said “Only one thing is needful, Mary has discovered it and it will not be taken from her.”

I’d say just maybe it is okay to live for one thing, not all things. It is okay that the summation of one’s life is one sentence on the epitaph “good friend”, “faithful steward”, “Mother”, “Lover”…

Maybe why we lose things is because we are trying to hold on to everything.

what we need to guard jealously is our ability to decipher what we need per time. Not necessarily what we desire but what we need.

The summation is the caption: “you do not need much to enjoy your life.”

Till next time, stay Jiggy

xoxo,

Dcconoisseur.