“If you could be any animal, what would you be?” At the onset, this question sounds like an icebreaker used to encourage a group of strangers to bond over imagining another lifestyle. However, for researcher Thomas Thwaites, his desire to become a goat transcended imagination when he journeyed to the Swiss Alps for three days to live as a goat in a goat herd.
Beyond donning prosthetic limbs to walk comfortably on four legs, Thwaites mentally became a goat by learning to ignore certain parts of his brain to think like one. "My goal was to take a holiday from the pain and worry of being a self-conscious being, able to regret the past and worry about the future," he stated. While it is impossible for humans to fully escape our humanity, we can learn the importance of living in the moment by embracing the existence of a goat.
Shutting down our regrets about the past and and worries about our future to focus on the present minimizes negativity so we can best utilize our present. The goat cannot waste time by regretting a clump of clover they didn't get eat at the last grassy patch or by worrying about a dangerous mountain ledge he might have to cross up ahead. He eats what he can when he can, and he accepts the mountainous challenge when he must pass. It can be helpful for us, too, to recognize that there is a time and place for all tasks. Our obligations are more complex than solely eating and moving, but fully concentrating on the task at hand relieves stress by making us feel in control of our present. For example, if we do our homework during the time we have allotted for homework instead of sneaking breaks to go on Facebook, we will accomplish more and do better work, making the future less stressful and avoiding regrets later on. Concentrating on the present contents us with what we have at any given moment.
Sometimes the way to use our time most effectively is by clearing our minds of everything except our present. Recognizing the peace of now, the amazing reality of being alive, can make even the most stressful times seem more positive. The goat walks through the forest knowing he is one with nature. In our digital and industrial world, we can forget that we, too, are one with the natural world. Leaving our phones at home to take a stroll through the forest and notice our environment reminds us of our harmony with our surroundings.
One day, thanks to researchers like Thwaites, we may be able to live among our favorite animals and discover firsthand their mental and physical realities. Until then, we can adopt their simpler views about existence to gain more satisfaction from our lives.
