They keep themselves officiously preoccupied in order to improve their lives; they spend their lives in organizing their lives. They direct their purposes with an eye to a distant future. But putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune's control, and abandoning what lies in yours."
Seneca On the shortness of life, page 13, about 50 AD
This nearly 2000 year old quotation captures a dilemma still relevant today. We have difficulties staying in the now and accepting what is. Mindfulness is an answer to this dilemma. It is an old method about waking up and inquire into oneself, to question one's own perceptions about things and thus learn to perceive and appreciate the richness of every moment. It is about accepting and staying in the now without fleeing to the future or the past. Our habit to do that makes it necessary for most of us to keep fokus and practise. Watch the moment without trying to change or estimate anything. Feel your breath and notice what you percieve with your senses, notice all feelings and thoughts. Don't estimate. This is mindfulness.
Meditation might help you to reach this stillness within yourself. It can be done in different ways but it is not necessary to make it complicated; sit up straight (but still relaxed) or lay down and witness the thoughts passing by. Don’t evaluate or get attatched to the thoughts or emotions. Focus on breathing in and out, be relaxed. In time you will experience moments of stillness, short spaces between thoughts. With practise these moments become longer, as your awareness and presence increase.
If you are interested I can recommend you to read Jon Kabat-Zinn and Eckhart Tolle, among others.
There are a few more thoughts I would like to share about my life philosophy (which you can find out more about if you read i.e. Byron Kathie):
Reality is the way it is. What has happened is always right - i.e. it has happened. Don't try to change that since it is impossible. From a position of acceptance you don't waste energy on blaming, self-pity or cursing. Instead you are free to act if necessary of possible, or surrender completely to the experience.
Stick to your own things. What other's say or think is up to them – even if it is about you. WHat is up to you is houw you respond..
Honest communication starts with oneself. Give honest answers, irrespective of how the other person might respond. Ask what you want from others. Don’t expect them to understand without words. Don't expect them to give what you ask. Ask with an open mind. The answer can be yes or no.
Problems are thoughts. Without thoughts there are no problems. It is the story we believe in that creates confusion. We suffer when we believe a thought that is not in line with reality. The world is a mirror of your mind.
Understand your thoughts. It is not other people that cause your problems or hurt you. It is your thougths about it that is hurting you. Forgiveness comes when you understand that there is nobody to forgive – neither you or anyone else. The thought will lose its power when you understand that it’s not the way you think.
This is an attitude towards life that does not create suffering. It is not an automatic process. Practice is needed in the same way as muscles need training to develop. But it is worht the effort.
