Enjoying this moment, enjoying this now.
My dear friends, as we welcome in 2023, I am reminded that this is the time so many of us decide to commit to making some kind of change. Whether it’s a physical adjustment, or what we perceive as an improvement in another area of our lives, we make a resolution to get it under control.
And so we promise to work hard, and wrangle some aspect of reality into someday being other than it currently is.
Here’s a radical idea! Rather than seeking to improve or rectify some flaw we are perceiving in this present by focusing our energy on some imaginary future, how about we accept and enjoy how things are right now? Doesn’t mean we can’t still have a goal or idea of something we would like to manifest in our experience (a healthier, more comfortable body, a sweeter relationship, more fulfilment in our job, whatever we are thinking would be a more satisfying reality for ourselves), but it does mean we don’t focus on how imperfect the current status is. Instead, we enable a sense of rightness – right now.
There are some beautiful lines in the Tao that says:
The Tao never does anything, yet through it all things are done.
If powerful men and women could center themselves in it,
The whole world would be transformed by itself, in its natural rhythms.
People would be content with their simple, everyday lives,
In harmony and free of desire.
When there is no desire, all things are at peace.
(Tao te Ching Chapter 37, Stephen Mitchell translation)
You may take exception to the ‘simple, everyday life’ as sounding too humble or boring. But look a little more deeply. This verse is a reminder that we are dynamic beings, always transforming. Whether we move in cooperation, or struggle with our process, is the question.
Most of us have been taught that if we don’t like something in our experience, we need to struggle to change it. It’s hard work, we have to “do” something, we need to beat ourselves (or others) up – otherwise it won’t change. But do we? This verse suggests otherwise.
What if you woke up and simply enjoyed the moment of opening your eyes? Of coming awake to this new day? What if instead of feeling dread or anxiety about all the projections your mind immediately starts to make about all you have to do and achieve in this day ahead, you felt a sense of peace? Of ease in being able to flow into whatever possibilities and potentials will open up before you? Of feeling a sense of harmony within yourself, within your life, within the world? Of not desiring anything to be any different than it is, right this moment?
What if your New Year’s resolution was to enjoy your life and those in it right now, just the way everything is? To feel appreciation for your body, your family, your neighbor, your current situation or status, without immediately jumping to critical thoughts, or wishing things were ‘better?’ How would feeling satisfaction rather than displeasure affect your experience right now? Imagine: you might feel enough contentment right now, that your desires manifest without you having to ‘do’ anything. Or you may find that life brings you something different, but it, also, is just as satisfying (maybe even more).
So why wait until you lose the pounds or change the job or make more money before you feel good about yourself and life? Sure, you can have a desire for the future – but don’t use it as a reason to not feel harmonious and at peace right now.
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