For a while I have been assuming that there is a contradiction between living in the present moment, accepting what is, and the idea of visualizing and dreaming of the future. But then I had an a-ha moment. There is no shortcut to the future. The only way to the future is through the present moment. Whatever it is that I want to create in the future will not manifest by simply wishing it so. I have to bring my mind back into the present and then decide what it is that I can do right now, right here, to bring me closer to that envisioned goal.
Living in the present moment does not exclude wanting things in the future. It just means that only the now-moment yields the next moment, and the next. We can’t skip ahead. And the future doesn’t exist as some tangible separate phenomenon. When dreaming of the future, we can ask ourselves, ‘what can I do right now to bring me closer to what I want?’ It could be as simple as closing the Instagram or TikTok app, or taking an invigorating shower, or eating a healthy lunch, or jotting down some ideas; all are important first steps on our thousand mile journey. It often just takes that one first step to break the inertia and create a momentum that then propels us to take the next step.
I was driving one day a few months ago, and I thought, ‘well, there’s nothing much I can do right now, while driving, that will bring me closer to my goal of publishing a poetry book…but there was! One thing I could do was breathe. Focusing on my breathing was a way to de-stress, and to re-focus my scattered mind. Coming home stressed out and unfocused could have caused a ripple effect, and instead of sitting down and working on my poetry, I probably would have fallen asleep watching TV on the couch.
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