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comment by AlderaanDuran
AlderaanDuran  ·  4332 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Goalsetting: The Dark Side

I'm more of an "enjoy the moment, not the goal" kind of person. As long as I'm enjoying the moment, and being productive in the now, I know that the goals will come naturally without too much focus or weight on them. As long as the moment is going good and being used well, the future simply gets better as a result. So I tend to focus mostly on the now. But in our modern society I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about goals and the future, because we have to in some aspects. I have things to plan in the future that are important, like my career and my retirement. So I can't be completely oblivious to my future goals, or else those things could get lost. But the journey is the most important part, because the journey is here right now, and it's always here, everyday. Goals and destinations are far off in the future and may never come, but today is always here and you can always make something of it.

This video was something that really opened up my mind to answering this question for myself, and it's also what got me into reading Alan Watts, and what eventually lead to me picking up Zen Buddhism practices in my life.

Life as Music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbvKrH-GC4





rjw  ·  4332 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I liked the video and as a student at university I do feel as if I am just working my arse off to get a 1st class degree (British equivalent something like a 3.68 or higher in the USA) and then go to a good graduate school, etc.

What works by Alan Watts would you recommend I read?

AlderaanDuran  ·  4332 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I liked the books "The Wisdom of Insecurity" and "The Book" by Alan Watts quite a bit.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Wisdom-Insecurity-Message-Anxiety/...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Taboo-Against-Knowing/dp/0679...