Is it Being Laid Back or Procrastinating

I live on an island. In this insulated atmosphere, many people are described as "laid back," which I take to mean the opposite of "hyper," or "wound too tight." If you are laid back, you tend to be more patient, accepting of others, and possessing something close to equanimity about others whom you encounter. In other words, in this case, the Dalai Lama's, to you "Each and every being wants/strives to be happy and to avoid suffering. In this fundamental way, all beings are equal." That may be a bit too lofty, but I think it is the logical extension of the feeling that comes over me here in this place. This is not the view held by some who visit, and even some who have lived here for years. Their perception is that things move too slowly and that there is no sense of urgency. People just find reasons to procrastinate on everything.

I can accept that fewer show the outward signs of urgency (the frown, the bent forward posture when walking forward—always briskly with the head down, or the car weaving in and out of traffic, etc.) in this place. I can also accept there are some who have nothing to do, but there are people like that everywhere. But joy gets people alive and moving, too. You can be driven by externals or drawn by what you feel inside of you. Capturing the latter seems more possible here. Procrastinating is, literally from the Latin pro + cras meaning "for tomorrow." Hence, it becomes leaving things for tomorrow. But, responding to today is not procrastinating. It's living in the present, which is literally all we have. As long as what we pursue in the present is not merely pleasure or gratification, then living for today is not procrastination, it's the pursuit of happiness. I'll take living "laid back" for one more day, I think.