There are two basic forms of momentarily losing ourselves—setting aside our worries and comparisons and getting absorbed into something beyond ourselves.
The first comes through distraction when we consume something (food, entertainment, information, etc.), and the second comes through the actualization of a pursuit that is so grand and momentous that our self awareness falls second. The former often arises as an escape from a problem while the latter typically comes through a sort of expression or awe in an experience larger than the individual.
For some people, “getting lost” might come through playing music, creating art, exploring nature, or even observing the simple occurrences in one’s everyday life. The common theme across these forms is that they all serve as a creative manifestation—in some as the creator, in others as a collaborator, and in others as the beholder.
The point is not that there are certain activities that are better or worse and that we should encourage a homogenous society, but rather that people should seek out activities that allow them to lose themselves in creative expression, in whatever form that might take. These moments and activities are inherently life-giving, and might just might even redirect one’s life onto a new and different path. Don’t stop seeking out these pursuits, for they contain the very essence of what it means to be alive.
“If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.”
~ Joseph Campbell