Mastering what’s in front of me
by Wayne Luthi
“Master what is in front of you.”
— author unknown, believed to be a Buddhist saying
My focus has always tended to be “future” oriented, my mind on what’s coming up next. I’ve subscribed to the idea that somehow the future will always be better, no matter what’s in front of me. My “focus” is already on the next page, three blocks down the road.
I could excuse myself astrologically and say that I have a lot of “fire” (sovereign) energy, that the nature of “fire” to be future oriented. Excuses aside, however, the universe or creation gives me each moment either “to be” in it or “to do” something with it, and maybe both.
This parallels some of Eckhart Tolle’s thinking in his work. The Power of Now. Without getting too abstractly philosophical, I choose to “master what is in front of me.” My awareness has been placed in a certain time, place and circumstance of creation.
How much “I” have created my own reality and how much it has been created for me to witness and to experience is metaphysically debatable. Regardless of my own reality’s underlying cause, I can be sure that what’s on my plate in front of my nose is on my plate in front of my nose. That is what is being served hot right now.
My choice seems to lie in the freedom to be present and engaged with whatever each moment presents, or I can check out into some “imaginary future’ that may or may not happen. If I keep “checking out,” escaping what is in front of me, how much of my life’s opportunity to be fully conscious in what is being presented do I miss?
I once was a subscriber to a life mission that was altruistic, benevolent, compassionate, and in service to others. How solid and true are altruism, benevolence, and compassion without rooted presence? If I am focused on some ideal, how much do I miss of what is real?
I believe that vision and goals are a necessary part of the way we are made. I know that they may be anchored in something heartfelt. Perhaps more of a challenge than the lofty thought is to be heartfelt feeling around what is right in front of me.
| Republished with permission from Men on A Mission, the newsletter of the Kentucky MKP community. |
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– is a deeply personal issue that everyone decides for himself. Sometimes the price is high, sometimes low. But this is not very important for life. Life is an interesting thing. And the price on Viagra – too.
