If there is anything I have realized from traveling outside of the United States, it’s there is more to life than your career and making money. I had the opportunity to travel to the Philippines the summer of 2019 with my family, and I saw a side of life I had never perceived before. Prior to the trip I knew little about the Philippines. My family stayed in the capital, Manila, a metropolitan city with a population near 2 million brimming with history and culture, but also a great amount of poverty. I brought my camera with me to capture the whole trip, and while we were walking around a group of kids with their skateboards asked me to take a picture of them.
The photo taken in Manila, Philippines of a group of friends holding skateboards.
A video taken in Manila, Philippines of one of the skateboarders doing a trick.
I didn’t realize it in the moment, but something really stood out to me from the short interaction I had with them. While looking back at the photo and video, I realized it was their energy and enthusiasm about being together. Something as small as getting their photo taken gave them a sense of acknowledgement. Their smiles were contagious. This was the case with many people my family and I encountered while in Manila.
A video taken in Manila, Philippines of my brother playing basketball in the street with some local kids.
The video above is another instance of true hospitality and friendliness. My family and I were walking down the street and were invited to engage in conversation and a dunk contest. Simple interactions like these seemed to mean so much to everyone we met.
It amazed me that despite the fact there was so much poverty, everyone shared a feeling of goodwill. Obviously it’s not the case for everyone, but it seemed as though most people were living life to the fullest with the little they had. There were kids playing sports and dancing in the park under the moonlight. There was no sense of urgency. Their lives had become so simple.
I don’t know about you guys, but I know for certain that I get caught up worrying about things that are out of my control on a daily basis. Instead, we should be focusing on making each day as simple as possible. The tasks that we decide to do, we should give our full effort. A key aspect when giving full effort in something is losing yourself in that task. Not in the sense we fall out of touch with who we are, but rather the opposite. Let the task become us. Let yourself be so enveloped in the task that you are no longer having thoughts about anything else and you are fully conscious of your mental and physical states. When you master this, you have mastered the art of living in the moment.
Are you living simply and focused on enjoying every moment of your day or do you find yourself easily consumed in a fast-paced, competitive lifestyle?
I appreciate you reading this article and hope this showed you why Motivating Matters. Feel free to share and answer the question or comment any feedback about the article!
Motivating Matters 
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