A Simple Question to Avoid Complacency In Life

“Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion” — Thich Nhat Hanh

The average life expectancy in the world right now is 73 years old. So, if we make it to that ripe old age we can expect to live through 26,645 days.

For some of us, we will, unfortunately, have a lot less while others will get a few more. But either way, it isn’t all that much for anyone in the general scheme of things.

We are a mere blip on the timeline of the Earth and an even tinier blip on the timeline of consciousness itself.

However, we seem to get stuck in thinking that life lasts forever or that it’s burdensome and heavy. And this often makes us forget how much magic is all around. I know it does for me, anyway.

Complacency then, I believe, is born out of familiarity or taking things for granted. And then the things we used to love and cherish become disposable and dense.

Until they’re gone, of course.

“The chance to be part of this happens briefly. The invitation is not to show how inventive and imaginative you are but how much you can notice what you’re already part of. And appreciate it and share it. And care about those that are around, who count for their welfare while you are looking out for your own, that’s it. And then you’ll get to the end of it, having had an awesome time knowing, that, that is something you’d recommend to others” — Burgs

I’m not gonna lie, on the tougher days, days can feel like weeks and life can become a drag. We all experience it to some degree. But in the end, it goes by in a blink. And the older I get, the quicker it seems to go.

“I promise myself that I will enjoy every minute of the day that is given me to live” — Thich Nhat Hanh

I also vow to keep this promise too. I fail hopelessly most of the time but whenever I remember, it provides a beautiful anchor and fights off complacency.

Ram Dass put it another way — “I see my life as an unfolding set of opportunities to awaken”

And remember, there are only 26, 645 of them (if we’re lucky).

Now, in any one of those 26,645 days, there are only 1,440 minutes. What we do with them ultimately determines our entire reality.

If that’s too overwhelming for you, Albert Einstein has something to say that might help: “There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

I don’t know about you but I prefer the latter. What do you think?

So, here is a simple question to avoid complacency in life

What if this was the last time I ever did what I’m about to do?

Whenever I ask this question, my senses suddenly come alive. I become present. I start paying attention to all the little details just in case I’m right. It makes even the most mundane tasks like washing the dishes, for example, become quite meaningful. I notice how the water is running against my skin, what the texture and smell of the soap I’m using, and how the joints in my fingers and wrists respond to the commands from my brain.

Washing the dishes suddenly becomes quite a remarkable experience!

I know it’s weird, but it’s true.

"Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you’re going to be right” — Muhammad Ali

Seeing the miracle of everyday life

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

Sadhguru put it another way:

“Every moment there are a million miracles happening around you: a flower blossoming, a bird tweeting, a bee humming, a raindrop falling, a snowflake wafting along the clear evening air. There is magic everywhere. If you learn how to live it, life is nothing short of a daily miracle”

When so many greats have said the same thing, it’s hard not to listen and take note.

Their message simply invites us to do less and “be” more. To observe, witness, listen, appreciate, and love all that we are a part of.

Closing thoughts

To close, I’d like to leave you with one more pertinent quote from one of my all-time favourites:

“How is it possible that a being with such sensitive jewels as the eyes, such enchanted musical instruments as the ears, and such fabulous arabesque of nerves as the brain can experience itself anything less than a god?” — Alan Watts