Why Do Brazilians Live for the Moment?
Tuesday, August 5, 2025. This is for Alex and Silvana.
We’ve all heard the phrase: “Brazilians live for the moment.”
It conjures images of samba dancers in Rio, spontaneous street fútbol, and long, laughter-filled meals. But is this just a sun-drenched stereotype—or is there something deeper behind the Brazilian orientation toward the present?
The answer is yes—and it’s far more nuanced than a postcard fantasy.
Living in the moment, Brazilian-style, isn’t about escapism.
It’s a worldview shaped by history, social dynamics, spiritual traditions, and an uncanny ability to find beauty in chaos.
From psychology to poetry, from Carnival to Candomblé, Brazilians have cultivated what researchers call a present-hedonism culture—but one that’s as soulful as it is celebratory.
Let’s consider how and why this cultural ethos developed—and what it means today.
A Present-Oriented Culture: What the Research Says
Cross-cultural psychologists like Philip Zimbardo and Geert Hofstede have consistently found that Brazil scores high on present hedonism and indulgence, and low on long-term orientation compared to countries like Japan, Germany, or the U.S.
In Zimbardo’s Time Perspective Inventory, Brazil is described as a culture that leans into the present—prioritizing pleasure, connection, spontaneity, and emotional expression over strict planning or future-focused discipline.
"In societies where the future feels unstable, people adapt by valuing the present more deeply. That’s not recklessness—it’s resilience."
— Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999
This time orientation isn’t unique to Brazil, but in Brazilian society, it’s been elevated to an art form.
Jeitinho Brasileiro: Improvisation as Survival
One of the most defining features of Brazilian life is jeitinho brasileiro—roughly, “the Brazilian way.”
It refers to the informal, often ingenious methods of navigating bureaucracy, rigid systems, and social expectations through personal charm, negotiation, and adaptability.
Anthropologist Roberto DaMatta wrote extensively about this in his book Carnivals, Rogues, and Heroes, describing how Brazilians toggle between formal structures and flexible human relationships.
"In Brazil, there is always a way—not because people don’t care about the rules, but because they care more about people."
— Roberto DaMatta
This ethos reflects a relational orientation to time and problem-solving. When tomorrow is uncertain—because of political instability, economic swings, or social inequality—what matters most is who you’re with right now.
Saudade and the Sacredness of the Moment
To understand Brazilian present-hedonism, you must also understand saudade—a word that has no perfect translation.
It’s a longing for something loved and lost, or for something that might never come. But rather than being paralyzing, saudade is often folded into joy. It’s the bittersweet flavor of the moment.
As the poet Vinícius de Moraes wrote:
"A vida é a arte do encontro, embora haja tanto desencontro pela vida."
Life is the art of meeting, although there is so much parting along the way.
In this view, every embrace might be the last. So you lean into presence, because that’s where the sacred lives.
Music as Timekeeper: Dancing with Impermanence
Brazilian music is another profound expression of cultural time orientation. Songs rarely race toward resolution. Instead, they loop, linger, and luxuriate in the now.
Take Águas de Março by Tom Jobim. It’s a hypnotic, circular composition filled with images of rain, sticks, mud, and breath.
“É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho…”
It’s stick, it’s stone, it’s the end of the road…
There is no narrative arc. There’s just presence—elemental, alive, and endlessly renewed.
Afro-Brazilian Spirituality: Rituals of the Now
Brazil’s Afro-Indigenous spiritual traditions like Candomblé and Umbanda further deepen the culture’s present-focus.
In these systems, the divine is embodied. Rituals involve dance, drumming, possession, and offering—all enacted in the body, in the moment.
Religious philosopher Luiz Antonio Simas calls these traditions “technologies of survival,” born from colonial violence and sustained by ancestral memory.
“To dance is to insist on the body’s right to be. To sing is to remember a lineage denied. To gather is to rebuild a world.”
— Luiz Antonio Simas
Here, time is not linear but ritualized. The sacred is not waiting in a distant afterlife. It’s happening—right now, around the fire, on the drum.
Present Living as Resilience
We must remember that Brazil’s love of the moment is not naïve. It’s forged in hardship.
Centuries of social inequality, political corruption, and economic volatility have made the future a risky investment for many Brazilians.
In such a landscape, present-tense joy isn’t shallow—it’s strategic. It says: I will live fully today, because tomorrow is uncertain.
This makes Brazil one of the few cultures where celebration and sorrow coexist so seamlessly. The party never fully masks the pain—but neither does the pain steal the party.
So—Do Brazilians Live for the Moment?
Yes. But not in the way outsiders might assume.
To live for the moment in Brazil is to:
Improvise in the face of failed systems.
Connect even when institutions disconnect.
Celebrate with the ache of saudade in your chest.
Reclaim the body through music, dance, food, and prayer.
Refuse to wait for some far-off perfect day.
In Brazil, the present is not a pit stop on the way to the future. It’s a destination. And it’s alive with color, contradiction, and complexity.
Be Well, Stay Kind, and Godspeed.
REFERENCES:
Zimbardo, P. G., & Boyd, J. N. (1999). Time perspective and health: A review of the literature. Personality and Individual Differences, 30(7), 1271–1287. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00161-0
Hofstede Insights. (2024). Country Comparison: Brazil. https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/brazil/
DaMatta, R. (1991). Carnivals, Rogues, and Heroes: An Interpretation of the Brazilian Dilemma. University of Notre Dame Press.
Simas, L. A., & Rufino, A. (2019). Fogo no Mato: A ciência encantada das macumbas. Mórula Editorial.