Alan Watts was a British philosopher perhaps best known for his work introducing Buddhist and other Eastern philosophical concepts to the West over the course of the 50’s and 60’s. I encountered him recently in the form of a YouTube video that had been animated by Matt Stone and Trey Parker – the creators of South Park. It’s a fabulous intersection of high and low that really illuminates an important concept for living no matter where you find yourself on the planet but, perhaps, especially in the US. Watt’s lecture and the accompanying animation speak to the importance of not only focusing your awareness on the present moment but actually enjoying that moment while you’re in it. It’s important to have goals and to work hard to attain them but we can easily slip into a non-stop mode of pursuit that can cost us dearly in lost time with ourselves and our loved ones. Each achieved goal is immediately replaced with another and you wake up years later realizing your life has been a blur. I believe that psychotherapy can be a great help in clarifying goals and values so that both are in alignment and reflect the whole person – in this way you can actually be present for your own life.
If your anxiety is draining all of the joy out of your life and you’d like to learn how to get it back, please feel free to contact me to set up a consultation.
You can learn more about Alan Watts here: http://alanwatts.com/
