Today in my email I got a much needed article on ‘this moment’. I’ve been stressing out today, for some unknown reason. At first I thought it was because I had just wrote an eBook for someone and was stressing out about the finer points in the book (sometimes I can be a bit of a perfectionist.)
Then, I thought it was because I literally had no ideas coming to me for what to write on this blog and in my other blogs, and I got scared that I was going to just go on like that forever.
A number of other things came into my mind and before I knew it I was drained of energy and took a nap. I woke up feel refreshed and found this email. (I always forget how good naps and meditation are for relieving a crazy mind.)
This Moment Is All We Got
It’s quite funny: the book I just completed is on this topic, yet I forget to take my own advice in it!
Thank god for Leo Babauta from Zen Habits. Today, he was my reminder to just take a deep breath and stop creating so many problems in my mind.
Here’s what he wrote:
We all suffer, every day: worry, procrastination, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, irritated, angry, frustrated, wishing things were different, comparing ourselves to others, worried we’re missing out, wishing other people would be different, feeling offended, loneliness, fear of failure, not wanting to do something, wishing we had less fat or bigger boobs or bigger muscles, angry at being controlled, wanting to find the perfect someone, wishing our partner was more perfect, stressed about finances, not wanting to think about problems, not knowing how to fix things, uncertain about choices, rushing from one task to the next, not liking our jobs.
And yet, these problems are self-created.
They’re real, but our tricky minds have created them. The problems are in our heads, created by some ideal/fantasy/expectation of how we wished the world would be, or hope it will be but fear it won’t be. It exists in our heads.
Try this, for a minute: let all of that go for a moment, and just pay attention to the physical things around you right now. Your body, the light, sounds, the thing you’re sitting on, the things moving or sitting still around you. Don’t judge them against what they should be, but just observe what they actually are.
See this moment as it is, without all the things you’re worried/frustrated/angry about. Let go of all of those things, and just see this moment.
It is perfect, as it is.
Accept this moment. Cherish it. This is real, and it is wonderful.
You can go back to worrying about everything else in a moment.
Got Something You Are Worrying About?
So, my nap pretty much helped me let go of everything going on in my mind, but if you don’t have time to take a nap (or the luxury of taking a nap right now), go ahead and take Leo’s advice: Pay attention to the moment and let it be what it is. Don’t try to force it to be something different – better or worse. Just recognize that it is what it is.
That simple piece of advice has let me look at my future (today included) without worry because I know that by paying attention to the moment, I can let go of expectations and create the exact future that I am meant to have, and that is pretty exciting.
