Content with no where to be and anywhere to go

Borneo is an adventurer's paradise - hiking mountains, trekking jungles, boat rides through jungle rivers and incredible scuba diving. I am so thankful for how fortunate I am to be experiencing this.


As I was on the boat back to Semporna from Mabul (where I did my PADI certification and went diving for three days), I couldn't help but smile as the boat bounced off the waves and I looked out onto the sea. I realized that I was as free as I could be - I had nowhere to be, no one to see and I could go anywhere I wanted to. Quickly however, I felt the need to preserve the moment and hold onto it, in order to re-live it again and again in the future. This, as we all know, is a futile exercise - capturing moments is impossible. Of course, a camera can capture a scene, and it can help us remember that time in our lives, but it can't truly capture the emotions of the moment. As I came to this realization I just sank into the boat and enjoyed the moment for what it was supposed to be - a perfect moment. Perfect moments, when I notice them, bring so much joy and emotion that I can't help but think about loved ones who are no longer here physically, but who I feel sharing those moments of perfection with me.


Not everything has been perfect though - I feel torn by the disparity between my good fortune and the people I see everywhere who struggle to make ends meet. Why should I be given the opportunity to see all the riches the world has to offer, while others grind away everyday? The funny thing is people here smile more often and more genuinely than people at home (myself included). This makes me think that we have something backwards at home. We're so concerned with what happens next - what we have to do next, where we have to go next, who have to see next, that we can't enjoy the moment we are in. This constant planning for (or worrying about) the future makes the present less happy, as proven by the absence of random smiles in our lives, or by the forced smiles we make everyday.

Obviously, I am trying to connect both of these ideas, and while my buddy Mac may say that "we look for meaning in things", I feel that the Malay people are more prepared to enjoy their day, regardless of how their day will turn out, while we (and I include myself in 'we') spend all day planning how we will be happy next, yet rarely achieve any real happiness.

As I read over this post I just want to say that it wasn't meant to be so morose, in fact I hope that I read this in the months after I return home and it serves as a reminder for me to be content with the Now. I hope it can do the same for you.