A short YouTube video by Andy Neary in which he recounts a personal experience visiting Maris and observing a simple, present-focused way of living. The visit prompted Neary to reconsider how he defines happiness, contrasting busy, goal-chasing mainland life with Maris’s grounded enjoyment of nature (palm and cacao trees) and presence.
Chapters
But after spending that afternoon with Maris, it really gave me a perspective shift. And that was how difficult we make happiness. Think about living in the world we live in on the mainland, where we get pissed off when our Starbucks coffee isn't ready in time. And we get so caught up in the dramas of life and chasing this goal to the next and oh, I can't meet with you unless we. We schedule time three weeks from now because I'm so busy that we have completely lost how we define happiness. And I know I have myself have been guilty of that. But sitting in that backyard looking up at this rainforest Maris calls his backyard. Palm trees. Bigger than anything I've ever seen. Cacao trees like this man just freaking loves life. And he has to be present every single day because he really has no other distractions. And it was in that moment I made a commitment to myself that I am going to redefine happiness. This is an opportunity to redefine what happiness means to me.