Fletcherize Life
Emmet Fox

  

Horace Fletcher taught people to eat slowly.  He said that most of us never enjoy our food because we bolt one course to get to the next and that the meal is over before we begin to taste it.

I have often thought that most of us make this mistake about life in general.  Our attention is apt to be so fixed upon tomorrow or next week that we forget to relish this day.  People are always going to be happy a little later on when they have done something else first.  They are really going to enjoy life when they get a job, or when they retire from business; or when they are married, or when they get a divorce; or when they move into the country, or when they can settle in town; or when they have passed an examination; or when the children are off their hands; or anything else in the whole world.

All this is wrong.  By all means make your plans and take the right means to carry them out, but meanwhile enjoy each hour of the day as it passes.  Ponder the wonderful old saying that tomorrow never comes.  Enjoy the living of today while today is here.  There are all sorts of interesting things happening in everyone's life every day.  They may be small things, but they are nevertheless worthwhile.

When visiting several rather "primitive" Central American countries, I was greatly struck by the fact that these simple people, whose ways of life are very elementary, and who are almost without material possessions, nevertheless seem to get much more out of life than do many of our own relatively sophisticated people.  Their secret is that they live much more in the present moment than we do.  They enjoy life while it is with them.  They obviously relish performing the simplest tasks that we rush through almost mechanically.  Most of our people seem to be, mentally, always en route to somewhere else or something else.

Of course we have many things of great value that they still lack, but it seems that in our very rapid progress we have forgotten certain important values that these "primitive" people still retain.

Live in the present moment and find your interest and your happiness in the things of today.

  

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Yes, life can be mysterious and confusing--but there's much of life that's actually rather dependable and reliable.  Some principles apply to life in so many different contexts that they can truly be called universal--and learning what they are and how to approach them and use them can teach us some of the most important lessons that we've ever learned.
My doctorate is in Teaching and Learning.  I use it a lot when I teach at school, but I also do my best to apply what I've learned to the life I'm living, and to observe how others live their lives.  What makes them happy or unhappy, stressed or peaceful, selfish or generous, compassionate or arrogant?  In this book, I've done my best to pass on to you what I've learned from people in my life, writers whose works I've read, and stories that I've heard.  Perhaps these principles can be a positive part of your life, too!
Universal Principles of Living Life Fully.  Awareness of these principles can explain a lot and take much of the frustration out of the lives we lead.