My personality is such that it would be possible for me to be almost completely mechanistic: to just live for completing the next goal – endlessly. Unlike Leo Babauta, I believe goals are incredibly freeing and fulfilling, even if I greatly value his position. However, I purposefully create sacred spaces in my life where there is not a goal. I look at this as what art is all about, whatever medium it takes. These are times to fully enjoy the sensations of the moment. What are some of the things I do during this time?

• Music – Playing my instruments is a whole new experience for me these days. I don’t do it often (except for at church) and when I do there is nothing I need to accomplish (except for the occasional recital). I can enjoy just hearing myself play, without criticism, without priority – just experience it.
• Meditation – I am a newcomer to this and should carve out more special moments to engage in this practice. I am someone who always has something to think about, so it can sometimes be a challenge to just let all those thoughts go, focus on my breath, and just be in tune with myself.
• Drinking Tea – I often drink tea late at night. Sometimes I try to make those 5-10 minutes a sacred spot and just be aware – aware of my blessings, aware of the world, aware of other people, aware of my dreams – just pure awareness without giving in to the urge to think or do something.
• Walks in the Woods – I love nature even if my allergies don’t always cooperate. Sometimes I go out in the woods somewhere to think, but other times I go out just to go out. No plan, no agenda, just making decisions as I come upon them.

Don’t expect these sacred times to magically appear in your life. It is so easy for me to crowd these out with other responsibilities and studies. But when I allow that (and it is more often than I would like), then I am robbing myself of really living. I become just a robot fulfilling tasks. Art, whether in the form of creating something spontaneously, being aware of your surroundings, or expressing a beautiful statement, needs to be guarded and preserved. Without it, we may still have the most developed brain of any species, but for what?

It may be hard, but don’t give up on art. Don’t give up on those sacred spots in your life. Carve them out of your busy day. Enjoy life – not the goals you have set or the things you have accomplished, but just life itself. It is beautiful.

I like certainty. This is why I think about and study every aspect of life ad nauseam and usually enjoy doing it. I try to use well-defined terms, clear-cut logic, and unbiased research to find elegant solutions to political, social, theological, and medical controversies.

However, sometimes (actually a lot of the time) it is necessary to live with at least temporary uncertainty – with solutions or conclusions that aren’t blatantly illogical but do leave something to be desired. This is where, for me at least, it is crucial that I follow my paradigm of living in appointed times by faith and practice centering on the present moment. All I really ever should ask myself during the week is “What should I be doing right now?” and then once I know the answer (and many times this is something I know instinctively) I should go and do that thing leaving other thoughts behind. If I truly am not sure what to do, I have paradigms for how to deal with that that I should follow.

This is life – and it can be so simple. Oh, I still have my philosophical musings, soul searchings, and other endeavors that make life more fulfilling at designated times, and this is great. It means I am constantly changing in small or big ways in every area of life.

I have heard the expression and may have even quoted it in the past, “Don’t be so open-minded your brains fall out.” I agree and disagree with this statement. I do believe it is necessary to have some baseline paradigm that gives a rudimentary structure to your life, such as the one I have. So, in this case, I would agree that if you are so open-minded that you don’t even have this structure because your are constantly mentally challenging everything, I think this could be disastrous. I have had one period of my life that was like this, and I was in nearly constant depression for most of it.

However, once you have a structure (as basic and as little as possible) to your life, then you can be as open minded as you want, and in my opinion, the more the merrier. Why? Well, for me, it is fulfilling to ask questions and ponder all the mysteries of life and the possible explanations, or social structures, or politics. One of the things that most fulfills me, other than when I enjoy great health, is seeking to know the truth. I believe that the truth does set people free, as Jesus/Y’shua said in John 8:32.

One of the defining characteristics that distinguishes people from other animals is the drive to understand things. This must be kept alive at all costs. The art and science of living is figuring out how to do this while engaging in all the routine tasks of each day.

It is very easy to start living in the past or in the future. The present moment can seem fleeting and unimportant. However, the present is all you have control over. The past is frozen. What’s done has been done. The future is uncertain and vague. Even the control we think we have over it is mostly illusory.

Not being centered for me usually takes one of the following forms:

1. Mulling over how little I am improving in a certain area. Honest and rational evaluations can be tremendously beneficial. However, beating myself down because I don’t see that much change in myself is not good and is focused on the past not the present.
2. Worried my back will worsen and I won’t be able to work. This one pops up all the time for me. Whatever happens in the future will happen in the future. The best I can do is just focus on being the most healthy I can now and enjoying my current abilities.
3. Deliberating over questions that should be worked out later. Not everything can be figured out or decided right now. I should simply make the decisions or do the thinking I need for this day and not sweat the rest.
4. Worried I will make a B in one of my classes. I tend to view an A as a passing grade and a B as a failing grade, and this is okay as far as it goes. However, I need to focus on putting the effort I feel I should be putting into studying and not put my self worth on the line if I get I get a B or fail. I can’t necessarily control my grades, but I can control what I do with my time.
5. Overwhelmed by all the things I need to get done today. Just focus on doing the most important thing right now and don’t stress about the rest. Stressing about it does not help. If anything, it hurts because my mind is distracted and I cannot put all my energies into whatever task I end up pursuing, which means it takes longer than it normally would.
6. Depressed by the lack of important things I have accomplished in life. Any time you base your self worth on the past, chances are you will be disappointed. This is because the only way you can measure the things you have accomlished is by comparing them against someone else’s accomplishments, and there will always be someone who has accomplished more. Adopting this attitude also makes you angry or envious at the successes of others, because the more they succeed, the less self worth you have.
7. Reliving recent failures or awkward situations. Right after I didn’t do so hot on a test, or said something inappropriate, or otherwise “failed” in some aspect, I tend to relive the experience and not be able to move on. It consumes my thoughts. “Why did I do that? I should have done this. I’m so clumsy and stupid.” This accomplishes nothing except to erode my self-confidence and poison my psychology. If something didn’t go so well, just jot it down and later, when you are more rationally inclined, possibly think what you should do differently to avoid it happening in the future.

This concept of centering is pivotal to lowering stress, attaining happiness, and pursuing higher consciousness. There are several aids that can help you maintain the practice of centering. Meditation is perhaps the most important. I don’t do a lot of meditating, but I do try to block out a few times during the week to do this. Don’t worry so much about the pose you adopt when doing this. Yes, the lotus position is probably the most ideal, but there a lot of people that cannot even do this (like me) or at least not comfortably and safely. You can meditate sitting on a chair, lying on your back, cross-legged, or any number of other different positions.

The practice of centering is worth learning because it will directly or indirectly influence every aspect of your life. So, after reading this, channel all the energy you have into the next activity on your list and try to have fun while doing it. Life is too short to miss out on the present moment.

As a quick example from today, I changed the answer I originally put down on a quiz causing me to get it wrong, grabbed my laptop power cords without the laptop, and forgot to bring my physics lab to finish all within 10 minutes. Now these are all minor things, but often times it is the minor stuff that gets us. I had been working on this post, so in the car instead of getting the mulligrubs, I centered, put those events behind me, and started just focusing on meditating and praying. It wasn’t instantaneous, but soon I was feeling much more at peace and excited about life.

Try to look at the curveballs life throws at you not as horrible things but rather as opportunities to practice centering. This makes everything that happens worthwhile.

Both science and art are popular words to describe a method of doing something as well as the end result. In the interest of clarity, I would like to give my definitions of both of these words, which I think will be useful when using them in conversation or writing.

Something can be said to be a science if it has an organized, structured plan to get from point A to point B. There is little guesswork or vagueness in science. Everything is well-defined and follows a predictable methodology.

Something can be said to be an art if there is no organized, structured plan and no definite point B. It is something that cannot be codified into a methodological framework and is intensely personal and subjective in nature.

Using these definitions, we see that something is an art or a science based upon how it is done, not upon what subject it is. For example, when I was in college for music performance, I approached my music practices and performances mostly as a science and not an art. In fact, my music was probably as much as 95% science. I could tell you exactly how to do anything, from the mechanics of different articulations to the intonation of pitches to memorizing and performing pieces, in a very systematic step-by-step process.

However, there was still something – that 5% – for which I can give no explanation and will not even attempt to do so. This part of my music making was and still is an art. It is something that I either cannot or will not try to break down into discrete parts.

After thinking about these two words in this light, I realize that I have always been a scientist through and through by disposition. In fact, I performed much better when I allowed my science side to predominately rule how I did things instead of my art side.

I believe that most of us probably fall heavily to one side or the other of this spectrum. This is fine; play up your strengths. However, if you find yourself to be a scientist, include some randomness in your life. Dedicate some time to just freely express yourself. On the other hand, if you are an artist, don’t stifle your creativity, but try to establish some guidelines or routines in which your art can flourish.

Science vs Art. This is usually the heart of most miscommunication and conflict (see my post on Reason vs. Instinct). It doesn’t have to be. You simply have to value both of these wonderful tools and perspectives. If viewed properly, they can complement each other perfectly. However, it takes some real work to integrate these seemingly incompatible twins.