The P ublisher Po stulates
24 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE
I have prayed for patience, but it never comes soon enough for me
as I want it all, and I want it now.
| SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016
Publisher / Editor
Pleasure is in
the Now
By Aaron R. Fodiman
Some people get their pleasure from things that happened
in the past. But I find my pleasure comes from the here and
now; and however wonderful my previous experiences
were, they are not enough to satisfy my urge for joy today.
As I reflect on my previous experiences that were fun, they do
provide me with many smiles. But, I have found that I need
current experiences to keep me the happy person I work at
being every minute of every day. I refuse to allow myself to
have negative thoughts or to dwell on problems, whether real or
imagined. I do this because I have found that most of the things
I have worried about never happened.
The human mind seems to have a great capacity to conjure up
fearsome scenarios that have little basis in reality. I can’t figure out
why so many people tend to concentrate on the negative instead
of living in accord with Johnny Mercer’s song, “Accentuate
the Positive.” As Johnny advises in his lyrics, I “eliminate the
negative” and “Don’t mess with Mister In-Between.”
I find it is easy to focus on what is happening to me in the present.
I try not to project what might happen in the future, or to dwell
on something in my past that might trouble me if I spent time
thinking about it. Likewise, the future is a nice concept, but
I have found many things that I anticipated have ended up not
coming to fruition.
Also, many of us have discovered that things we looked
forward to seldom lived up to the enjoyment we expected.
It is similar to the way we often find that getting something we
want does not give us the overall long-term feeling of elation that
we believed it would when we were seeking it. The concept of
stopping to smell the flowers only works if you are looking for
blossoms in the first place. It is easy to understand how many
people don’t stop to enjoy a sunset, not because it isn’t there in
front of them, but rather because they are concentrating too much
on other things, either past or future, rather than on the present.
Sometimes, we become so wrapped up in producing
memories of our lives that we miss the enjoyment of actual
current events. It often reminds me of the tourists I have seen
who view their vacations through video camera eyepieces, yet
don’t have the patience to watch what they shot once they get
home. It also reminds me of people who share their memorable
moments by tediously scrolling through their phones to show
me their pictures. Usually, the photos are too small to see the
details; and invariably, the moment I touch their phones, the
pictures disappear and they have to start the process all over
again. Perhaps I’m selfish, as I enjoy the moment for myself
at the time. If you would like to replicate my joy, you are
going to have to do it for yourself. If you do, I promise it will
be much more meaningful to you than if I show you what
I did, who I saw or where I was. Live your life, not someone else’s.
And don’t ask them to live yours, as it may not be as wonderful
to others, as it is to you. 9