Dear Chey:

I like your honest share about your struggle to take your own advice. I would like to share with you parts of a poem I like, a poem that was given to me to read by my first and only good psychotherapist. This poem means a lot to me and it has to do with dreams, and about what living is really about:

“Hokusai Says, by Roger Keyes:

Hokusai says Look carefully
He says pay attention, notice
He says keep looking, stay curious
He says there is no end to seeing.

He says…keep changing…
He says get stuck, accept it, repeat yourself
as long as it’s interesting.

(now notice, about dreams, as in … what you want to do)

.. He says it doesn’t matter if you draw, or write books.
It doesn’t matter if you saw wood, or catch fish.
It doesn’t matter if you sit at home
and stare at the ants on your verandah or the shadows of the trees
and grasses in your garden.

It matters that you care.
It matters that you feel.
It matters that you notice.
It matters that life lives through you…

He says don’t be afraid.
Don’t be afraid.
Look, feel, let life take you by the hand.
Let life live through you.”

Does this mean something to you…? Something relevant to your thread? Please do let me know.

anita

Dear Chey:

Yes, it is about the journey, the present moment and the next as the destination is in some time in the future that may never be. You wrote in your original post that sometimes you get annoyed with yourself: patience and gentleness with yourself are very important in this journey of life.

I just remembered something I read, a Buddhist was asked: what is your favorite thing to do? He answered: whatever I am doing at the moment.

This is the epitome of Mindfulness, being focused on what you are doing this moment, whatever it is. I remember reading about boredom, that boredom is not possible if you are mindful, if you are focused on the present moment.

And there can be no perfection, no perfection in living in the present and in being mindful and in executing anything at all. It is also impossible to not drift to the future and the past.The brain does it and it naturally does it (the function is to learn from the past and prepare for the future)- so you drift and come back to the present. Some past/ future, when there is something to learn and to prepare, and the rest of the time, gently, the best you can- in the now.

anita

You are welcome, Chey. Bring up this thread anytime and we can continue to chat!
anita