Fear

That’s from a section called “Contemplating the Future Without Fear.”

As Nhat Hanh tells us, often we either completely avoid planning for the future or we get all wrapped up in obsessively planning for it.

Both, of course, involve fear and anxiety about the future.

By grounding ourselves in the present—realizing that NOW is the best time to positively impact the future—we can properly take a look at and plan for coming attractions.

Here’s how Eckhart Tolle puts it in The Power of Now (see Notes): “If you set yourself a goal and work toward it, you are using clock time. You are aware of where you want to go, but you honor and give your fullest attention to the step that you are taking at this moment. If you then become excessively focused on the goal, perhaps because you are seeking happiness, fulfillment, or a more complete sense of self in it, the Now is no longer honored. It becomes reduced to a mere stepping stone to the future, with no intrinsic value. Clock time then turns into psychological time. Your life’s journey is no longer an adventure, just an obsessive need to arrive, to attain, to ‘make it.’ You no longer see or smell the flowers by the wayside either, nor are you aware of the beauty and the miracle of life that unfolds all around you when you are present in the Now.”

In Buddha’s Brain (see Notes), Rick Hanson tells us to be nice to our future self and reminds us: “It’s impossible to change the past or the present: you can only accept all that as it is. But you can tend to the causes of a better future. Most of the ways you’ll do this are small and humble… These little actions really add up over time. Everyday, ordinary activities—as well as any personal growth or spiritual practices—contain dozens of opportunities to change your brain from the inside out. You really do have that power, which is a wonderful thing in a world full of forces beyond your control. A single raindrop doesn’t have much effect, but if you have enough raindrops and enough time, you can carve a Grand Canyon.”

Here’s to envisioning our ideals as we ground ourselves and do our best in the present!

Mindful breathing.

It’s the easiest, most powerful way to bring ourselves back into the present moment. And I just love the simplicity with which Thich Nhat Hanh guides us. —> “Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in; breathing out, I know that I am breathing out.”

How about we try it right now? Breathe in and know that you are breathing in. Feel it… Breathe out and know that you are breathing out. Feel that as well.

Voilà. Welcome to the present moment. Try that whenever you feel yourself getting wrapped up in regrets about the past or anxiety about the future. Powerful stuff.

Interbeing.

This is one of my favorite Ideas—in anybook.

Look deeply into anything and what do you see? If you look deeply enough, you see everything.

Take a single leaf of romaine lettuce from your market. What do you see?

The seed, the earth, the minerals, the sunshine, the clouds, the rain.

Look deeper and we see the farmers who grew it. The merchants who sold it. The people who built the roads for the trucks. And the people who built the trucks. And the people who built the parts to the truck and the people who gathered the raw materials for those parts. Then there are the people who supported those people and on and on and on.

Then there’s your car (or bus) you take to get there. Who built it? Who made the clothes and shoes you wear to the store? Where did you get the money to purchase all that? And on and on and on.

All in a single leaf of romaine lettuce.

As Nhat Hanh describes, the only thing we *don’t* see is a separate self.

Everything (!) is connected. Everything.

Interbeing.

Here’s to embracing that truth more and more in our day to day lives.

P.S. As we embrace the reality of our interbeing, let’s also remember to give thanks. I love the way Patricia Ryan Madson advocates practicing thanks for our “silent gifts.” Here’s how she puts it in Improv Wisdom (see Notes): “Are you sitting right now as you read? If so, then a chair, sofa, or bed is supporting you. You probably have not paid much attention to this fact until I mentioned it. Nor have you been thinking that someone designed the chair (sofa, bed, etc.); someone manufactured it; someone brought it to where you are sitting; someone paid for it—perhaps it was you. It is likely that many people (mostly unknown to you) had a hand in the chair’s creation and journey to where it is now. It is fair to say that you are receiving a service from the chair and from all of those people whose efforts were part of the story. Whether you notice it or not, whether you thank it or not, the chair offers you support, comfort. The chair is a silent gift.”

Running away from our fear isn’t such a great idea.

The Tools guys tell us we want to say, “Bring it on!”

They remind us that our infinite potential exists on the *other* side of our fear. Therefore, when we feel fear arise, rather than recoil, we’d be wise to see the fear for what it is: an opportunity to grow and to get a little bit stronger.

With that in mind, we accept and lean into the fear, KNOWING that we’re catalyzing our growth with every step forward.

So, next time we’re feeling a little wave of fear, rather than hide from it let’s take a deep, mindful breath, welcome the fear and ask it what it is here to teach us. Then step forwardly confidently to meet the challenge.

I love the image of soaking our mind beans.

Reminds me of Marcus Aurelius (see Notes on Meditations) who tells us: “Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts. Soak it then in such trains of thoughts as, for example: Where life is possible at all, a right life is possible.”

Also reminds me of the Buddha (see Notes on The Dhammapada) who tells us: “Little by little a person become evil, as a water pot is filled by drops of water… Little by little a person becomes good, as a water pot is filled by drops of water.”

As Nhat Hanh tells us, we don’t need to get all up-in-our-stuff when we notice a less than awesome thought. Just say hello and say good-bye. No need to fight with the thought.

Hello. Good-bye.

Again and again and again.

Breathing in, we are aware we are breathing in. Breathing out, we are aware we are breathing out.

Little by little.

Slowly, surely, our mind becomes more relaxed, less tense.

Here’s to gently soaking our mind beans in the good stuff. :)

Let’s get right to the point on this one.

Are you addicted to TV? :)

As Nhat Hanh tells us, sometimes we might be (unconsciously) running away from our pain by zoning out in front of the TV.

Are you? :)

Here’s to creating TV-free zones in our house and coming home to ourselves and to our family!

The beautiful blue sky—aka the kingdom of heaven. It’s always there. Sometimes it might get a little covered up by a cloud of fear or anxiety or anger or whatever, but it’s there.

Fogs can roll in as well.

When *that* happens, it’s good to keep this Earl Nightingale gem in mind (check out the Notes on The Essence of Success for more): “According to the Bureau of Standards, ‘A dense fog covering seven city blocks, to a depth of 100 feet, is composed of something less than one glass of water.’ That is, all the fog covering seven city blocks, at 100 feet deep could be, if it were gotten all together, held in a single drinking glass. It would not quite fill it. And this could be compared to our worries. If we can see into the future and if we could see our problems in their true light, they wouldn’t tend to blind us to the world, to living itself, but instead could be relegated to their true size and place. And if all the things most people worry about were reduced to their true size, you could probably put them all into a water glass, too.”

Here’s to seeing our worries in their true light, realizing that the thick fog we can create for ourselves is really just a glass full of worry!!

When I read a book, I like to underline the positive words.

Often, I notice an author coming back to the same words again and again. It’s a really fun process to underline those words overand overas I feel the energy of the author’s intention.

With this book, the most frequently underlined phrase that Nhat Hanh came back to again and again was this: “the energyof mindfulnessand concentration.”

That’s the essence of the book in six words:

“the energyof mindfulnessand concentration” “the energyof mindfulnessand concentration” “the energyof mindfulnessand concentration”

When we bring the energy of mindfulness and concentration to our lives, the heat of that positive energy opens us up to our deepest potential. Let’s do that! :)

The LIVING Dharma. That’s where it’s at.

We can study all day long but at the end of the day (and the beginning and the middle), it’s *all* about who we are and what we do.

Reminds me of Ernest Holmes: “I would rather see a student of this Science prove its Principle than to have him repeat all the words of wisdom that have ever been uttered.”

And the Buddha: “Like a lovely flower full of color but lacking in fragrance, are the words of those who do not practice what they teach.” + “Dharma is not upheld by talking about it. Dharma is upheld by living in harmony with it.”

Plus Vernon Howard: “You see, knowing the words is not the same thing as living the meaning. Suppose I memorize the printed instructions on a first-aid kit. Does that mean I can give first aid? No. The full meaning comes when I admit I know nothing and then try, practice, succeed.”