My takeaway from reading The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts

This book has been the hardest book I have ever read so far. This was a hard read for me because of how my mind had to grasp and really understand somewhat complex philosophical ideas. I often caught myself re-reading passages to really take in the information that was being put in my brain. I originally heard this book from one of my favorite Youtuber's George Poulos who also led me to the book A Simple Path to Wealth which you can read my takeaway on that book here. Lastly, you may have heard the voice of Alan Watts before if you listen to a lot of Lo-Fi hip hop songs such as this one. His voice is featured a lot in that type of music because of his vintage and philosophical feel.

Living in the present moment

Living in the present moment is easily one of the many things I struggle with today. This struggle really occurred to me when my good friend Jackson Hilding asked me how often do I live in my head compared to how often I live in the present moment. I said roughly 70% in my head and 30% living in the present moment. This allowed me to really take in the way I was living and how I wanted to live. It seems like majority of people live in their head rather than the present moment. Even though this may be the case for most people I think this needs to change. I think this is the root of many people's troubles with anxiety. When we are not living in the present moment we are either living in the past or the future which is two states of time that we cannot control. We can only control the present moment so why do we not focus on that instead? I'm not sure because I still fall prey to this problem. However, once I became aware of this I decided I wanted things to change because living in either the past or the future is a vicious cycle that never ends and next thing you know we are on our death bed. It doesn't have to be this way. In the book it talks about how we envy animals because they do not have much responsibility and we envy their simple lives. Animals are consumed by the present moment and take life for what it is. There is a lot to learn from your pet dog or cat if you really think about it. As a human being in modern society it is very hard to live in the present moment because there is so much noise. Not getting distracted is almost impossible and having time to reflect gets harder and harder to come by these days. If you could cut your distractions in half you will see positive changes to your mental health. The premise of this book is exactly about this. Alan Watt's argues that the reason why humans are anxious and have poor mental health is the inability to live in the present moment.

Creating distance with your emotions

I briefly talk about this topic in my article how to stop takings personally and I will bring it up again here because of how important of a tool I think it is. For me, creating distance with your emotions is separating your body and your mind and taking things at face value. To do this you have to be aware of your emotions and your thought process. Being aware is the ability to take things in for what they are with no judgement. Creating distance with our emotions allows us to act and think more clearly because we disassociate our mind with our body. Our mind and body are very closely intertwined for good measure such as in times of fear or evading harm, however, when we are able to take a step back we are able to process thoughts a lot more clearly.

Insecurity

Insecurities are something that every human being faces. Your may associate insecurities with your looks but there are other insecurities that we may not really think about. These insecurities fall along the line of wanting to have a good paying and secure job or being a part of the upper class. When we climb the greasy pole of achievement we cut ourself into two pieces. Alan Watts outlines this separation perfectly by stating "There must be a good "I" who is going to improve the bad "me". "I," who has the best intentions, will go to work on wayward "me," and the tussle between them. Consequently "I" will feel more separate than ever, and so merely increase the lonely and cut-off feelings which make "me" behave so badly." Furthermore, he goes on by saying that the modern word that describes this way of thinking is what we call worrying. We worry because we want to feel safe and secure, we don't want to be insecure. My mom has always told me that there are only two guarantee's in life, taxes and death. The key to not worrying is accepting that there is no safety or security. When you seek security you fall into the constant cycle of worrying. So, what do people do instead? They fall into an addiction that "saves" them from the insecurity of life. This is the root of addiction for many alcoholics, drug users, and over-eaters. Instead, we have to be the insecurity. Allow it to come as it pleases and accept that there is no "I". The only experience we have is the present experience. In order to be "secure" in an insecure world is to be in the present moment and nothing else. In other words, to be secure you have to be insecure (this is what I am talking about when I say complex philosophical ideas). Seeking security will land you in a cycle of worry and doubt. Live in the present moment.

Conclusion

Reading this book has helped me a lot on dealing with tough emotions such as anxiety and dealing with the unknown. This book really highlights the importance of living in the present moment and how we can re-frame our thinking in order to deal with life's inevitable uncertainty. I think we get too caught up in living in the future and often forget to live in the now. Although, doing things to help your future self such as investing, working out, and learning a new skill is very important and should not be glanced over. Being able to truly live in the present moment allows us to truly experience what life has to offer us whether it be positive or negative. This way of living also allows us to have a clearer head and teaches us how to navigate through the unknown.