Mystic Musings: Lent 3/11
“Going to Walden is not so easy a thing as a green visit. It is the slow and difficult trick of living, and finding it where you are.”
Going to Walden by Mary Oliver
Photo by Debbie Hudson @hudsoncrafted
I have a friend from way back who used to counter my in-the-future-it-will-be-better energy with a “I can be happy anywhere” response. I think part of it is that she was just wired that way. But I also think the death of her mother when she was a young adult taught her to be happy with the life she had rather than the future life she was trying to make. She learned early that there are no guarantees.
I feel like I am only learning that now well into my 60’s. Quite honestly, it was the reality of aging that did it to me. I finally hit a spot where I found myself thinking, “I don’t want to come to the end of my life realizing that I spent it looking for happiness in some imagined future. I better start learning to be happy with where my life is now.”
I do think that there are a few rare people who set their minds on a picture of future happiness and partly by hard work and largely by luck they achieve it. If you are one of those, all I can say, “Good on you!” But for most of us our reality often falls short of our dreams and expectations. No one goes into life hoping for illnesses, sudden losses, betrayals, layoffs, grief, natural disasters, bankruptcies, etc. The fact is all of those are a normal part of life.
But whatever life we currently have is the life we have. It might get better. It might get worse. But the future doesn’t really matter. What we have now is all we have for this moment. There may be hopes, but what is real is where we are now, what we have now and how we feel now.
Quite honestly, it is a tough lesson for some of us.
Sit quietly. Breathe and get in touch with what you are thinking and feeling right now. As much as you can, simply accept whatever you are thinking and feeling rather than censoring it, fighting it or judging it. Simply notice it. Ponder these questions:
What are the gifts of your life right now?
What are the challenges and burdens of your life right now?
If nothing were to change could you accept your life as it is right now? What feelings would emerge with that acceptance?
What might you be missing right now by focusing on your future happiness?
Can you maintain your hope for a different future and gratitude for the present all at the same time?