The Presence of Games

"Life can only take place in the present moment. If we lose the present moment, we lose life."
Buddha

The human mind is a screwy thing.

Most people spend their lives either living in the past or in the future, not the present moment. Thoughts are constantly running through the mind thinking about what could've gone differently or expectations for the future.

How often when you're doing something are you actually doing it?

When you're driving in your car are you actually driving or are you focusing on the past, or what you want to happen in the future?

When you're walking somewhere are you present? Are you taking in your surroundings and realizing how beautiful everything is? Or are you yesterday, two days ago, an hour from now, or tomorrow?

Start being aware of this, how often are you actually present; actually focusing on everything that's happening around you: be conscious.

This is very hard and a strange concept for most people. Your mind doesn't want you in control.

If you're like most everyone on planet Earth you'll probably realize that you in fact hardly spend any of your time truly in the present moment. That's 'cause your mind likes to run around and spend a lot of time on things that don't really matter that much.

Like Buddha said, life can only take place in the present moment. And happiness thrives in the present moment.

It's very hard to not be fully present when playing a video game. Video games demand your full attention. You can't help but let all of your focus flow into the game. This is one of the reasons video games have such great potential for happiness.

When you're playing a game rarely is your mind anywhere but on the game, anywhere but the present moment. In this regard video games can even be quite liberating or enlightening.

This is why video games are such useful tools for temporarily escaping from our lives. When we're in real life we tend to bog down ourselves with constant focus on the past and the future but spend very little time in the present, where we can be happiest. So we escape to video games, where we are fully present, whether you realize it or not.

It's only when we momentarily lose focus on the present that we get frustrated and angry.

You died? Something bullshitty happened?

It's ok. I promise. Just bring yourself back to the present.

Breathe if you have to.

Regain control of your mind (it's a crazy bugger) and control of your anger. You're the one in control here. I'm assuming you don't want to be angry. Then don't be.

Stay present.

Enjoy your game.

Enjoy your life.




Many of the concepts in this post I learned from this book:
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment