something i read by eckhart tolle has been helping me deal with my current, uh, predicament. he writes, think about your relationship to the moment — is it dysfunctional? if we can continually reassess how we're responding to life — now, which is of course all we have — then we can begin to be more conscious. more open to life as it unfolds. less prone to debilitating mental habits. recently i've had to deal with Shit, and when i would start to get ripped up about it, when i'd start to get angry and tight, i'd stop and ask myself, "what is my relationship to this moment?" and i would sort of force myself into a state of meta-consciousness, which helped me realize (once again) that i can't get worked up about Shit i can't control.
doesn't work all the time, of course. or even often, really. but this is my life. it is the only one i have. and i am profoundly fortunate to have it. in general, and in specific. so if i can't find a way to be joyful, surrounded by so much spiritual and physical largess, then i am a seriously dysfunctional marmot.
try it. when you get wound up in old mental structures, try asking yourself, as often as you can think to, what is my relationship to this moment — and so to life?
and if you see me with that familiar scribble riding my 40-year-old brow, remind me of this approach to being. please remind me, because lord i forget all the time.
I promise.
And amen to that.
Posted by: Dick Beeninya | 10/28/2009 at 00:49
A little something to help remind you:
Bob Marley. Legend. Track 4.
Almost always works for me.
Posted by: cb | 10/29/2009 at 11:07