I’m reading Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” (sorry it took me so long to get to it, Oprah!) and learning how to be more Zen in the present. Or at least get a much deeper appreciation for the benefits (peace of mind, reduced stress, relaxation, all that good stuff) of learning and remembering how to 1. release the past, 2. cease a laser-like focus on the future, and 3. simply exist in the here and now. See? Easy as 1, 2, 3!
Change takes but an instant. Getting ready to change takes as long as you would want it to.
Eckart introduces the concepts of small scale waiting and large scale waiting. Small scale waiting is the normal stuff: stuck in traffic, long line at the checkout counter, waiting for someone who’s late.
Large scale waiting is more serious. It is when you put your life on hold waiting for your ship to come in. Large scale waiting is when you decide you won’t be happy until…. you get married, you get a promotion, you are successful, the kids grow up. You name it, the list of psuedo rationales we make up to avoid living in the here and now are endless.
Large scale waiting is wasting your life away. Decide to be happy now. Decide to live your full life now. Excuse me, your life is waiting. Go live it.