One of the most
significant negative habits we should be aware of is that of constantly
allowing our mind to run off into the future...Carried away by our worries,
we’re unable to live fully and happily in the present. Deep down, we believe we
can’t really be happy just yet—that we still have a few more boxes to be
checked off before we can really enjoy life.
~ Thích Nhất Hạnh* 1926-2022
It’s one thing to hope for and plan for the
future. It’s another thing to live in it before it arrives and, in so doing,
miss all the opportunities of today to
smile, appreciate, enjoy. Even in the darkest of times, light will shine
through the clouds. How many times have you played the game of: once the car
is paid off….once the kids are through school ….once the new roof is on….once
the dentist bills are paid….once the house is fixed up, paid off, sold….once we
retire….THEN we'll be able to……
Take the moments you have in the NOW and the THEN will
take care of itself.
Dear God of Maybe Someday ~
This business of "live for today and tomorrow will take care of itself" is all well and fine but I have bills to pay, income to worry about, repairs that can't wait for the house and the car and even my teeth and, and, and.... [insert long, s l o w, d e e p, breath here]. Ok, all right, fine! For today I will give up looking so far ahead that today is gone before I know it. I will take on setting the cell phone timer to go off once an hour for 6 hours and each time it does, I will take [at least] one, long, slow, deep breath again and take 30 seconds to look around me and notice something wonderful or sweet or comforting that I haven't noticed before, whether in my immediate surroundings or outside of a window; or, I will look at a picture of someone I love and smile and be glad to have him or her or them in my life. I will pray to be aware of and to be thankful for all the good moments that I have in this day. I will thank You, Dear Lord, and remember that Life is a gift, as someone once put on a tacky plaque, that's why we call it the present. amen.
*Thích Nhất Hanh [Tick Not Hahn] was a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, peace activist, teacher, prolific author, and poet who was once nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He wrote and lectured extensively on the connections between Buddhism and Christianity in such works as Living Buddha, Living Christ and Going Home, Jesus and Buddha as Brothers. He studied comparative religion at Princeton University and was appointed lecturer in Buddhism at Columbia University. He lived in a monastery in the south of France until his death but traveled frequently around the world to lecture.
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