Only One Time. . .
The future is an extraordinary place. We spend enormous amounts of time there even though none of us has ever visited it.
The mind travels ahead. What if this happens? What if that fails? What if I lose something? What if things never improve?
Planning is useful – worry is different. Planning asks, “What can I do?” Worry repeatedly asks, “What if?” Buddhist mindfulness brings us back to the one place where action is actually possible:
Now.
This doesn’t mean pretending the future doesn’t matter. If you have a problem tomorrow and can take useful action today, take it. Make the appointment, save the money, have the conversation. Prepare for what you can until your heart and mind are content but, then notice when preparation becomes rumination.
There is a Buddhist wisdom in distinguishing between what requires action and what merely demands mental rehearsal. The mind often believes worrying gives us control. But repeatedly imagining disasters doesn’t necessarily prepare us for them. It frequently causes us to experience suffering before anything has happened.
Return to the body, feel your feet, notice your breathing and look at what is physically around you.
Ask: What needs my attention in this moment?
Often the answer is surprisingly small.
Finish this task.
Eat this meal.
Make this call.
Take this walk.
Rest.
Life returns to manageable proportions. We don’t experience an entire lifetime at once. We experience this moment, followed by another.
Impermanence also reminds us that the future we fear isn’t fixed. Conditions are still moving, information hasn’t arrived, people haven’t made their choices, you haven’t made all of yours and the story isn’t finished.
Prepare wisely. Act where action is possible. But don’t spend today’s life endlessly rehearsing tomorrow’s fears. The future will arrive soon enough. When it does, it will arrive exactly where you already are: in the present moment.
Peace and Love, Jim
#presence #thedailybuddha #tdb
