A while ago, the following question came to my mind. Suppose I achieved what I want to achieve and became the ideal person that I want to be. Suppose further that this ideal self of mine somehow got to experience my current situation. What would he feel? What would he do? How would he behave?

I have a vision of my ideal self and it doesn’t involve concrete achievements or material objects that much. I tend to think of my ideal self in terms of what kind of person he is rather than what he has. So, this question is useful for me, because thinking about what he would feel helps me define and clarify what my ideal self is like, at least my ideal self as considered ideal by me-as-of-now.

So, what would my ideal self do if he was in my current situation? The answer I came up with was this: he would enjoy each and every moment.

But why?

My ideal self may be rich in the conventional sense. But I-as-of-now am not, at least compared to my ideal self. So, if my current self was experiencing my current situation, he wouldn’t be able to use his financial resources to do what he could and would do with those resources. But he wouldn’t be disappointed about that, because what he really wants to do is to have great experiences that his life has to offer and he knows that one can simply enjoy each and every moment of one’s life without spending money.

Every moment is new and unique. Some moments can be ordinary, some can be rough, and some can be amazing. You never know which moment turns out to be beautiful, though you might be able to tell in some cases. You can’t be selective about which moment to experience… that is, you can’t choose not to experience this moment, but choose to experience the moment after that moment. Or perhaps you could, in a way. You could choose to avert your eyes from what’s happening and let go of moments that could turn out to be amazing or average. But again, who knows the moments you thought would be average might turn out to be amazing? I bet the secret to experiencing beautiful moments is to enjoy each and every moment. Being open to these moments will give you many more opportunities. I believe that you will be able to sense potentially-great ones through practicing this openness towards what you experience.

And here’s another thought. There’s no reason why I should put forward enjoying these moments until I become that ideal person. In fact, I believe enjoying these moments is the way to become that ideal person I want to be. The beauty of this all is that I can do what my ideal self would do in my current situation right now and by doing that, I get closer to my ideal self.

What would your ideal self do and feel if your ideal self was in your current situation?

image: Dare Darlington