THBM:
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” – Epicurus
It sounds like Epicurus knew that comparison will steal our joy every time we use it to measure our experience against what we want but we don’t have. Instead, he suggests to focus on a perspective that reminds us that we are receiving such wonderful things in each moment from our lives. If our attention goes to what we do not have but only want, we loose our ability to feel the gratitude for what is here now for us. This is the essence of mindfulness. In order for me to heighten my joyful and loving experiences, I focus myself not on tomorrow, not on what I want and do not have, but instead on this very moment now. I can only feel joy and love when I am in my present moments. I can only feel my wellbeing in my now space. When I look into my uncertain future and I try to control it by putting constraints on what should be or what I need to happen, then I set myself up for one disappointment after another. By doing this, I am approaching my life’s outcomes and the plan of the universe like a person who observes a car having never seen it before, and believes after only observing they know exactly how it works and should perform. In our lives, there are just too many moving parts and invisible components that govern the exactness of every outcome in our lives that we simply do not have the power to know how anything will exactly turn out. As a matter of fact, I think much of the beauty of this life’s experiences are built in the NOT knowing of how, when, where, why and who of every experience and intended creation is suppose to turn out. We are the magicians of the universe casting our spells of creation our whole lives. We do this with our powerful intentions, with our actions, with our words and with our ability to find the meaning and inspiration in just about everything we choose. Even with all this creative power in our lives, we will never really know all the details of our manifestations until the creations are complete. So it is better to focus more generally on what we do know for sure. We know what is now. I am love. I am joy. I am so very good.
