Have you ever stopped to consider how lucky you are?

If you are reading this, it is almost certainly because you can access the Internet. The ‘Net is – by far – the most powerful communication device in known human history. You can learn anything about which you are curious in seconds. Or communicate with vast multitudes of people, no matter where on Earth they may be.

You most likely tap into this inconceivable trove of knowledge and communication from a device you carry in your pocket or briefcase. Smart phones and tablets now possess thousands of times more computing and graphics power than the “supercomputers” that launched the Apollo missions of the late 1960s.

I am old enough to remember the expense and lack of reliability involved in placing a phone call to the UK (on my rotary dial phone). Now, I can shoot off a text to my friends in Chennai India or Baku Azerbaijan or Dubai or Tbilisi. I stay in touch with friends and loved ones that I haven’t physically seen for half a century.

You and I can also decide to take a break from all the electronic wizardry. We can reconnect with nature in our own neighborhood. Perhaps we can gaze quietly at the stars or feel the grass under our feet, if we so desire.

We can hug a tree, if we want. And we can find that tree in Chiang Mai or Melbourne or Kenya. Air travel makes possible simple vacations that not so long ago were life-threatening acts of heroism; once-in-a-lifetime journeys that were most likely one-way.

We may also choose to do nothing at all. Most of us no longer need to work 12-hour days seven days a week to provide for our basic sustenance, only to risk death from an infected scratch in the field.

Now we work remotely or are a part of the “gig” economy, or maybe we don’t work at all and live on the philanthropy (forced or otherwise) of others.

Heck, most of our children even live to adulthood nowadays. This was not the case in the very recent past.

We are incredibly lucky to be alive in this place and time.

And we take it all for granted.

Wake up

I stopped taking everything for granted, but it took a great deal of intention and meditation to do so. When you achieve this very specific form of mindfulness, the world looks so much more interesting, so much more alive.

If you are bored, you are not paying attention.

A minute shift in perception is all it takes. Adjust your view from perceiver to that which is perceived.

Look around and realize where you are! Everyone who has ever lived has done so on this tiny speck of rock that exists only because it is precariously balanced in a gravitational dance around a relatively unremarkable star. Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, Buddha, et.al. and all of their religion and all of their followers have blinked rapidly in and out of existence on this cosmic speck of dust that is hurtling farther and farther into cold, deep space.

Ask not what the world can do for you. Ask how astounding it is that you are in the world.

My perception changed completely, once I became enlightened to the fact that there is an infinitesimal chance that there is a “Me” at all. Human life is mathematically improbable. Human consciousness is more unlikely still.

Couple that with the fact that I can sit in a coffee shop and write this article, as opposed to having to kill my food before I starve to death or become food for something else.

Literally against all odds, we – as a species – have survived long enough to begin to realize our potential.

We live in a time of unparalleled fortune and ease. Life was much harder in our grandparents’ time, inconceivably more difficult a hundred years before that and so on. But now I see my life in the context of this much larger reality.

I see that I am incredibly fortunate to be able to get up early and work hard; to direct my effort toward a future of my own design. To live, not merely to exist.

So why don’t more people enjoy this expanded, reality-based view? Most of us lack the motivation to escape the familiarity of everyday life, no matter how blessed we are to have it.

How to realize how lucky you are

Existentialism has the perfect way to motivate you to be mindful of how lucky you are. It works in all cases and in all circumstances at all times:

Memento mori.

Two simple words, in Latin. It means, “Remember that you must die.”

The phrase has almost become clichè. It is used by writers who make a living by recycling the writings of the stoics. It is a battle cry of young men who seek validation of what it means to be a man.

More to the point, older folks (and those of any age who get it) use the trope as a reminder of the ineffable beauty of life.

Ryan Holiday has done as much as anyone in modern times to bring the wisdom of the stoics to a contemporary audience. Check out his books and really cool memento mori rings and medallions on his website’s store.

We sometimes use the concept of personal mortality as an excuse to live a self-centered, narcissistic lifestyle. “YOLO, amiright”? You Only Live Once, so do whatever makes you feel good. In the 60s and 70s, the hippies phrased this as, “If it feels good, do it!”

But a closer look at memento mori reveals a deeper meaning. Gerascophobia (the fear of aging) is commonly the first reaction. Further reflection reveals that, sure enough, death is an inescapable reality. So what’s the point of thinking about this seemingly ultimate buzz kill?

What can you learn from thinking about your limited life span?

How lucky you are

It is good to learn to appreciate all that you see. But the real trick is to find the awe inherent in the fact that you see at all, that you have any perception of anything. The miracle is consciousness itself.

Consciousness is the prize of mortality. You have a limited span of time to enjoy this inestimable gift; what will you make of it?

What purpose will you assign to your life?

The Cartesian cogito argument is a “thing,” as they say. Descartes was on to something when he realized, “Cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am)”. Now take that a step further and realize the corollary:

“I think, therefore…holy crap! I can think! Look at all this cool stuff in the world!”

The next time you are stuck in traffic, think, “Wow, I am actually able to be aware of sitting here in my car, with air-conditioning and satellite radio (!) on a paved road. I’m on my way to my job or my business or my vacation or my home where my family waits.”

The problem is not that the world lacks amazement; the problem is that you forgot how to see it.

Once you see it, you see it everywhere. It was always there, right in front of you.

Wake up and realize how lucky you are.

 

As always, I welcome your thoughts. You can reach me through the comments section on my Substack or Medium accounts or the blog section on my website. If this article as of value to you, please follow my Instagram and Twitter accounts. And be sure to subscribe to my River Of Creation podcast – The Podcast for Creators! – coming later this year.

Be well; do good!

• JWW