I have always been one to look to the horizon. I tend to look to the future for something to look forward to or looking back and longing for it to return and realizing that both are nothing but mental tricks. I can't remember a time in the past that was once previsioned before it. Nothing went as planned, expected, or even desired. When looking back I now appreciate the times I didn't fully appreciate while I was in it and the sad thing is, I still don't appreciate the time I am in right now.
Stress is caused by not accepting the "isness" of life.
Stress is caused by wishing for something that isn't. Do any of these sound familiar?
- I want to be there and not here.
- I want to be older or younger.
- I don't want to be defined by .....
- I wished things are like they used to be.
- It's only 10:00 a.m. and I can't wait to get off at 5:00 p.m.
- There are 400 miles to go and I can't wiat to get there.
- I am this but I want to be that.
- I need more money.
- I want a bigger house.
All of the things that we think we want leads to stress and the thing we really want is to not have stress so the only way to achieve it is to accept the way things are.
This doesn't mean to not build for a better future because building can only be done in the present and that is an "isness" activity that places us in the present.
Essentially, we live in a society that believes in what isn't real in our lives. We build fictions in our minds and wonder why we are stressed and you'd have to wonder what benefit we draw from our general attitude of malcontent.
What benefit to I draw from my attitudes about things? That is the question that never gets asked because avoiding stress is definitely not one of them.
Thjs article is as much a confession as it is anything else, just as I believe most things people write or express are.
This means I must admit the truth about myself is that while my life has basically been a bed of roses the fact is that I have been discontened most of my life about myself and the world around me. How can one be happy in life if you never celebrate the wins and gracefully accept the losses?
What this means is that I must accept today. I must accept where I am. I must accept that things are the way they are not out of any cause and effect created by myself or the world, but because when the sun came up this morning, this is where I found myself.
The result of this conscious realization is that if I want to change anything in life at all it can only be done in the reality of the present moment. Change doesn't come in the future, it comes in the present. But the fact is that I have spent most of my life wishing to be somewhere else and sometime else than the present moment in place and time that I am not even sure I can accomplish it any more.
In essence, work is an activity which creates unity between myself and the present moment.
Making a schedule with deadlines is the only way for work to be on purpose then the only path to tomorrow is today and it will always be today.
Eternity = The present moment + The present location. The eternal infinte present that is gone the moment it is created. Get used to it...or suffer.
Cherish the moment and the "isness" of life. It is all there really is.