“Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there,’ or being in the present and wanting to be in the future.” So simple these words by Eckhart Tolle, yet how true. We never really have a choice, of course. We are always ‘here’ rather than ‘there,’ always taking this one step right now rather than running through the future. Our only choice is whether we allow ourselves to be torn apart by that split or whether we embrace reality as it is.
It’s the nagging of the mind that causes the friction, that creates the stream of ‘what if’ thoughts, making us worried and afraid. As Tolle points out: “It’s a mental phantom. [..] All that you have to deal with, cope with, in real life – as opposed to imaginary mind projections – is this moment. Ask yourself what ‘problem’ you have right now, not next year, tomorrow, or five minutes from now. What is wrong with this moment? You can always cope with the Now, but you can never cope with the future – nor do you have to.”
It’s so easy to be seduced by our minds to turn the present moment into a means to an end, to be in waiting mode to begin life once a goal has been reached. This could the small stuff like waiting in line at the grocery store, in a traffic jam, or for a package (or the weekend) to arrive. Or it could be the big stuff like waiting for a better job, for a truly meaningful relationship, to make more money, to be important, for a different minister. If we allow this mode to become a pattern of the mind the future will always seem better and the present will never be good enough – no matter what we achieve or get.
There is nothing wrong with striving to improve our life situation. Yet here is the tantalizing truth Tolle puts before us: “You can improve your life situation, but you cannot improve your Life. [..] Life is your deepest inner Being. It is already whole, complete, perfect. Your life situation consists of your circumstances and your experiences. There is nothing wrong with setting goals. And striving to achieve things. The mistake lies in using it as a substitute for the feeling of life, for Being. The only point of access for that is the Now.”
“So give up waiting as a state of mind. When you catch yourself slipping into waiting … snap out of it. Come into the present moment. Just be, and enjoy being. If you are present, there is never any need for you to wait for anything. So next time somebody says, ‘Sorry to have kept you waiting,’ you can reply, ‘That’s alright, I wasn’t waiting. I was just standing here enjoying myself – in joy in my self.”
Sounds a lot less stressful to me. I’ll have to remember to give it a try – or did he mean I ought to start right now? Okay, okay….
With love and affection, right now, right here.
Michael