Sometimes I get busy. There are just so many exciting projects to try, people to help, and ideas to explore. There are more things to do than I could ever do. And I can’t remember them all, so I take to making lists. I have lists to track tasks, calendars to track events and to remind me to do the things I want to do on time. I have spreadsheets to track finances and another for publishing schedules. I have clocks to track the day and time and thermometers to tell me the temperature inside and outside.
Then it hit me. It’s not that these things are irrelevant or should not have my attention, but I need to offer that attention with the full understanding that these things are not real.
What is real is eternal. What is real is here and now. What is real, in other words, are the eternal qualities of the present moment: love, being, experiencing, truth. If you have to track something, it is because it is not right there in your face all the time. You track it because it is NOT always in your present moment. It is a concept. And therefore not entirely real.
This takes some pressure off, in that we can tend to put a lot of expectation on ourselves about that work project, or that task list or some event in the future or past. But if we can recognize that these things are not real, only what is always here and now is real, we can start to lighten up a bit and perhaps take ourselves less seriously. Another way to say that is: if it is not always here and now, it is not FUNDAMENTAL. If it is not fundamental, chill out about it already. And if it IS always here and now, you don’t have to track it, do you? Just something to think about when we start placing too much importance on things.
