October 15, 2014

Enjoying Life

We always say that we should live in the here and now. But only recently, I asked myself: when do we really do that? How many times within one week can we honestly say: 'I've lived in the here and now. I've really experienced this with my whole heart'? Right. We're moving in those realms where the answer almost every time tends to zero.
So I started to think about this problem and inevitably had to ask: have we lost our ability to enjoy one moment, only because it is now, and aren't we able to live our lives without thinking what will come next? Our society tends to be workaholic, tends to use every single moment for something valuable. If I start to think about where this attitude will lead us to, I feel quite alarmed. What I'm mostly afraid of is that - always surrounded by smartphones, tablets, laptops - our society unlearns to live within the moment, to just enjoy and don't think about the next steps. I feel alarmed because I'm the best example for such an inability.
Only recently I spent a very late - and very short - vacation in Upper Austria, where you are surrounded by beautiful lakes and mountains. I was very happy this trip spontaneously came off since I always wanted to visit this part of my home country. (I have to admit I've never been there before for more than one day!)
But during my vacation I was trying very hard to switch all the thoughts in my head off. I always had to think about what was awaiting me as soon as I would return home...until the moment I realized what I was actually doing: I was destroying my own vacation because of my thoughts what would be up next for me. So I decided to reprove myself whenever I was starting to think about everything that awaited me - and it worked! That's something I've learnt there and so I was able to enjoy a few last days of summer, which made me very happy. The photos below where taken in the beautiful and charming towns of Gmunden and Bad Ischl, which I can recommend everyone who wants to spend a few days of silence and peace in our fast moving world.
Even now, in my daily routine during life at university, I always try to keep myself on the ground when I'm freaking out: 'Okay, that's tomorrow, but now is now.' I think that these thoughts are something very important in our ephemeral and rapid world. Only if we stay by ourselves we can live our life in the best possible quality.


























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