One of the great, great, great mysteries and miracles of life, is that everything feels so important.
In the moment.
Right now.
‘Whatever’s going on, whatever I feel, and whatever I think, deserves my absolute and utter attention and energy!’
My anger at this moment is important.
My boredom right now is important.
My nervousness is important.
My hopelessness is important.
My frustration is important.
My dullness is important.
My desires and urges are important.
My sadness is important.
My worries are important.
All those Very Important People things.
And, sure, they’re important.
They’re important because they’re part of our experience of life.
They have value in that sense.
Absolutely.
But they’re not a big deal.
So they aren’t THAT important.
Do you see the difference?
The true, astounding miracle, the magical part of this confusing and enticing phenomenon, is that we truly believe everything’s REALLY important, until the next moment when we forget about it and engage with the next thing that’s REALLY important.
We hop or slide from one thing to the other, lost in the seriousness of it, in the reality of it, while totally overlooking the bigger picture.
Nothing is THAT important.
Nothing we can feel or experience right now is that important.
And there’s more to see here.
There’s a different dimension to the idea of importance that we mostly don’t realize.
I’m talking about a more general, more open, more curious form of importance.
It’s not one of the many things we lose ourselves in, what it all means, how personal it is, and how unbearably boring and frustrating and shitty it feels right now… but it’s the importance of being aware.
The importance of aliveness itself.
Of you, being here, knowing that, FEELING that.
This importance (that’s also the most subtle thing in the universe) adds a sense of excitement to all other things.
It makes all the other important things less important.
Or at least less dramatic.
It just felt important to share this with you.
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(Photo by @snapsbyclark, for Unsplash)