Stillness Is the Key by Ryan Holiday

our mind repeats on a loop just how unfair this is, how insane it is
that it keeps happening and how it can’t go on. Why are we draining
ourselves of essential emotional and mental energies right when we
need them most?
Even during a quiet evening at home, all we’re thinking about is
the list of improvements that need to be made. There may be a
beautiful sunset, but instead of taking it in, we’re taking a picture of
it.
We are not present... and so we miss out. On life. On being our
best. On seeing what’s there.
Many of the people in line to see Marina Abramović’s
performance accidentally illustrate this phenomenon. Rushing in as
the doors opened, they zoomed past equally impressive pieces from
her career so that they could be first for the “special” one. In line,
they fidgeted endlessly and chatted with each other, trying to kill
time as the hours ticked by. They napped, leaning up against one
another. They checked their phones... and then checked them
again. They planned what they would do when it was their turn and
speculated about what it would be like. Some of them worked in
secret on little stunts they hoped would bring them fifteen seconds of
fame.
How much ordinary wonderfulness they closed their minds to.
It makes you wonder: After they had their transcendent
experience with Marina—coming face-to-face with real presence—
when they left the museum and walked out into the busy New York
City street, did they breathe in anew the vibrant rhythm of the urban
jungle, or, more likely, did they immediately resume their busy lives,
full of distractions, anxiety, dreams, insecurities, and ego?
In short, did they do exactly what all of us do most of every single
day?
We do not live in this moment. We, in fact, try desperately to get
out of it—by thinking, doing, talking, worrying, remembering,
hoping, whatever. We pay thousands of dollars to have a device in
our pocket to ensure that we are never bored. We sign up for endless
activities and obligations, chase money and accomplishments, all
with the naïve belief that at the end of it will be happiness.