Back in June of 2015, I wrote a post, “As A Buddhist … Revisited Again - Do We Need To Know Where We’re Headed?” Recently, I realized in a conversation with a friend that I somehow failed in that post to discuss how one implements this idea. How do you know what to do today, in the present, if you don’t think about where you want to be in the future? If you don’t have a point B to head to? Duh!
The answer is that you ask your heart each day, “What do I need to do today to do what’s best for me, to bring me peace and happiness?” Your heart will always answer in the present. The answer may be, “I don’t need anything right now. Just be.” Or your heart may want you to check something out … whether it’s a new location to live, a new job, new social opportunities, whatever. Or your heart may want you to change a habit-energy that is creating disharmony. Obviously you have to be very sure that you’re listening to your heart and not your ego-mind.
Whatever your heart tells you you need to do today, that is what you should do. And if it says, just be, than just be. If your heart does tell you to look into something which clearly has future implications, don’t carry it any further. Be present. Don’t ask yourself, well what would it be like if I do such and such? Will I be happy? Will there be problems? What if … ? Approach the task with equanimity. Just gather the information your heart needs and it will be made use of in the present.
The point is that you don’t have to use your mind to decide where you want to end up. What your goal is. What if …?
“But how can that be?” the reader may well ask. You just have to ask you heart what is best for you today. Trust your heart. And just as one moment builds upon another to make up a day, so one day builds upon another to make up the future.
This is not an easy thing to master. If it doesn't work for you, then the fallback advice is that found in my post, "As a Buddhist ... Revisited - Planning without Thinking."
The answer is that you ask your heart each day, “What do I need to do today to do what’s best for me, to bring me peace and happiness?” Your heart will always answer in the present. The answer may be, “I don’t need anything right now. Just be.” Or your heart may want you to check something out … whether it’s a new location to live, a new job, new social opportunities, whatever. Or your heart may want you to change a habit-energy that is creating disharmony. Obviously you have to be very sure that you’re listening to your heart and not your ego-mind.
Whatever your heart tells you you need to do today, that is what you should do. And if it says, just be, than just be. If your heart does tell you to look into something which clearly has future implications, don’t carry it any further. Be present. Don’t ask yourself, well what would it be like if I do such and such? Will I be happy? Will there be problems? What if … ? Approach the task with equanimity. Just gather the information your heart needs and it will be made use of in the present.
The point is that you don’t have to use your mind to decide where you want to end up. What your goal is. What if …?
“But how can that be?” the reader may well ask. You just have to ask you heart what is best for you today. Trust your heart. And just as one moment builds upon another to make up a day, so one day builds upon another to make up the future.
This is not an easy thing to master. If it doesn't work for you, then the fallback advice is that found in my post, "As a Buddhist ... Revisited - Planning without Thinking."
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