One Moment at a Time

One Moment at a Time

It started raining early this morning. Usually a wet Monday morning would make the traffic crawl at snail's pace but thank God I do not have to join the rest of the city folks in the mad rush to work.

Before the events of the day overwhelm us, it is good to remind ourselves of what's important and what's not. Most of the things that we worry about in our daily lives are actually not that important. They are usually things that matter to the ego, and nothing more. They stem from a need to acquire more, to satisfy an ego that can never be satiated. Realizing this helps us put things into perspective.

Why do we go to work with so much anxiety in our minds? We think of all the unfinished work from last week, the meetings where we have to face the scrutiny of our peers and superiors and the thousand and one petty little things that add up to what we call stress. Collectively these things weigh down heavily on our minds.

We often forget the fact that no matter how much work or responsibilities that we have to fulfill, at any moment in time, we can only do one thing. Nothing more, nothing less. The one thing that you have to do is--whatever you are doing now.

Ensuring quality in whatever we are doing requires presence and peace of mind. If we contaminate the present with worries about the future, then we can never produce quality work. We are merely sacrificing the quality of the present moment to consider a hypothetical future that might not even occur.

The present moment is the seed for all future outcomes. The seed does not worry about how tall it will grow into when it becomes a tree or how many fruits it will bear in the future. It just grows. Simply water the seed of the present with right-minded attention and intention, and the creative forces of the universe will do the rest.

The processor in your laptop or desktop computer only executes one instruction at a time, even though on the screen, it appears to be doing a lot of things simultaneously. The processor does not "hurry". It executes at a regular clock speed, one instruction at a time, while you curse over how slow your Internet connection is.

No matter how difficult a position you are in now, at any moment in time, you can only do one thing. Execute that one thing well, without fuss. And move on to the next thing. Any other response is a merely a reflection of your need for self-pity, your identification with the Victim archetype and your ego's need to be praised and recognized.

Why make the present complicated? Take it, one moment at a time. And allow it to realize the fullness of its potential.