“Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all that life really means.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
We are living at the meeting space of our vast past and the invisible future that is shining out towards the horizon. The only moment we ever have is right now, yet it can be difficult if not impossible at times to calm ourselves from fear or stress or worry about the many possible futures that lie in front of us. Our poor brains spend so much time in overload, trying to play out every possible scenario for us so that we can “plan ahead” or “make the best decision” or “be ready”. If you have ever had to make a speech, go to an interview, finish a project, take a test, terminate someone, go to court…anything that triggers your stress-then you know what I am talking about. Even watching the news about the conflicts and tension in our world is enough to test the most stoic of personalities. It can cause you to wake up in the middle of the night with the issue on your mind. It can lead you to that glass of wine to dull your mind. It can take you away from precious present moments with the people you care about. I know this from personal experience, and I know I am not alone.
There have been philosophers and wise men for as long as we have recorded history counseling us to “Take no thought for the morrow”, yet how do we take that wise advice and make it how we live? How can we run our companies, plan our lives, raise our kids, without thought for tomorrow? Maybe in the many translations and rewrites we have lost the original meaning of those words. What if we replace “thought” with “worry”, or “stress” as high achievers prefer to call it. Then in modern language, I would translate those words into “Have no worry (stress about) for tomorrow”. When I get caught into the vortex of worry, I am learning to catch myself. I have a process I put my imagination through that helps my poor overworked mind get some rest.
Step 1- I give my mind the permission to play out the worst thing that can happen regarding whatever issue I am currently digesting. I do this consciously, meaning I am watching it happen in my imagination, without letting it suck me in.
Step 2- I accept that this could happen, and I realize that I will still be okay.
Step 3- I bring myself back to now and work to improving my present moment. I have already accepted the terrible thing that hasn’t happened, so from here I can rest my worried mind and put to use my creativity and imagination to find better solutions to the issues I am dealing with.
When we are engaging the part of our mind that worries, that stresses, we cut off the access to the imagination. We lose the ability to concentrate, we have difficulty making decisions. It can be like walking in the fog, not knowing when the next step is off the cliff. By opening the avenue to our imagination we are able to clear that fog, to plant our feet firmly on the ground, and to step forward, one step at a time, till the sun goes down.
My life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened. – Montaigne