Wisdom for the Moment
This quote was on a Facebook “feed” which I receive on my page today. I started writing this post a few days ago and find it no coincidence …
“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.” ~ Lao Tzu
Ever ask yourself, “Where is my peace? How can I get it back again?” If you’re like me, these questions get asked way more than we want to admit. How often do we let the concerns of tomorrow rob us of the joy in TODAY because we’re projecting into those concerns rather than living in today? Or maybe we focus on the past and can’t let go of the negative things that happened there. All too often, I realized (sometimes too late) something cool that was right in front of me but my thoughts and emotions were very much in another place. Try as we might, carrying the baggage of yesterday projects the wrong thoughts into a moment. We project the fear of “history repeating itself” based on previous experiences. Chances are … history won’t repeat itself … unless we make it happen by focusing all our energy on it and breathe the wrong life into something.
I was never really one for affirmations or thought processes, but I’ve learned that our thoughts/words create actions. If I want my actions to have a positive effect on my life and the lives of those around me, I need to have positive thoughts. If I constantly focus on and see only disruptive forces, more disorderly things occur and snowball into chaos. Yet when I turn my thoughts to order and harmony … and ponder those things … peace exists. This doesn’t mean all is well or going the way “I” want it to. However, it does mean that I have stepped out of the way and I am allowing things to be as they are supposed to be.
As a self-professed, former control freak, I used to try to make things go the way I thought they should. It took a lot of time and energy and I was pretty much miserable as I tried to control that over which I had no control. It seemed no one cooperated and all I did was fix everything that thought everyone else messed up. It’s been a long, arduous trek … this learning to “let go” and let everyone make and learn from their own decisions.
Working in social services, I’ve come in contact with many folks going through rehab for addictions. The Serenity Prayer doesn’t just help them, it helps all of us. It reminds us to use WISDOM in discerning what we can and cannot change, the courage to make changes when we can, and serenity or peace to accept that which we cannot change.
Let peace enter your life by learning to live in the present … not in the past or for the future … just for today.
