I have written often about the centrality of being present, free of the intervention of thought, to having the serenity to experience peace and happiness in the moment rather than being pulled this way and that by your ego-mind. The present moment is the only reality, all else is thought. This is the only place where we can truly find peace, happiness, security, and hope.
But during a recent meditation, I realized that there is another step that is necessary to experience peace, self-confidence, security, and hope in the moment ... one must make the most of the moment, do what you feel in your heart, in your true Buddha mind, is important for you to do now rather than at some point in the future. Only if you act in the present do you gain the self-confidence to have faith that if you live each moment well, the future will take care of itself, all will be well.
If your goals are all in the future, rather than in the present moment, then you will likely be beset by doubts and confusion, fear and anxiety. Regardless what your agenda is ... whether to offer others joy or to learn woodworking or get in shape ... you need to act now, or each moment’s inaction will become the next moment’s inaction, and the next day’s, and the next week’s. And that will disturb your mind and result in frustration and doubt.
Even if you are not attached to your agenda ... that is, you can honestly say “If it works out great; if it doesn’t, that’s ok too, because all is well” ... if you don’t act now you will still be attacked by lack of confidence which will disturb your equanimity. We all have at our core the learned experience of insecurity. And we must work everyday in a variety of ways to free ourselves from the intervention of that feeling. Meditation is an important component, but action is as well.
But during a recent meditation, I realized that there is another step that is necessary to experience peace, self-confidence, security, and hope in the moment ... one must make the most of the moment, do what you feel in your heart, in your true Buddha mind, is important for you to do now rather than at some point in the future. Only if you act in the present do you gain the self-confidence to have faith that if you live each moment well, the future will take care of itself, all will be well.
If your goals are all in the future, rather than in the present moment, then you will likely be beset by doubts and confusion, fear and anxiety. Regardless what your agenda is ... whether to offer others joy or to learn woodworking or get in shape ... you need to act now, or each moment’s inaction will become the next moment’s inaction, and the next day’s, and the next week’s. And that will disturb your mind and result in frustration and doubt.
Even if you are not attached to your agenda ... that is, you can honestly say “If it works out great; if it doesn’t, that’s ok too, because all is well” ... if you don’t act now you will still be attacked by lack of confidence which will disturb your equanimity. We all have at our core the learned experience of insecurity. And we must work everyday in a variety of ways to free ourselves from the intervention of that feeling. Meditation is an important component, but action is as well.
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