living in the moment

I read an article today that had to do with feeling happy and satisfied with your job, and the dangers of "the grass is always greener" mentality. And though it focused on career choices, I think much of it can be extrapolated to other areas of life, particularly relationships.

The whole article was an interesting read, but it was point #2 that struck a chord. It was speaking of how a common misconception is that more vacation days will make you happier at work, and intuitively this seems to make sense. Better work/life balance. The downtime will refresh you, make you more productive when you return. More is always better, right?

Well, maybe. But maybe not. It turns out that while most European countries have mandatory paid vacation time (an average of 20 days a year, to our ZERO), this does not necessarily translate to greater work satisfaction or happiness in life. It's not the time that matters, but how you spend it. To quote the article:

What’s more: Experts say it’s how you spend your time, not how much time off you have, that really makes us happier. The secret, according to a 2010 study by researchers at Harvard, is being engaged in whatever you’re doing in that moment. In fact, they found that at any given moment, 46.9% of us are thinking about the past or the future, instead of where we are in the present. So the next time you get a week, or a mere afternoon off, the trick to greater bliss is to devote your whole self to the time you have, whether it’s spent climbing a mountain, booking a yoga class or just sipping a frothy latte at your favorite cafe.

And that's something to think about.