It's been a while...

I saw an interview on The Hour the other night with Eckhart Tolle where he talked about his books on being in the now, at one point he mentions a zen master watching an Olympiad try his hardest and not succeed and afterwords the zen master says "his desire to win robs him of his power"

On this side of the world that statement seems to contradict what we've been taught over the years of our lives, in fact I've had people wonder just what the hell I'm saying when I mention the zen master. For those who don't know Eckhart wrote a little book by the name of The Power of Now and it deals with the idea of staying in the moment and not focusing too much on the future or the past. Instead Just Stay focused on where you are and what you have to do right now, not a week from now, not a day from now, not even an hour from now. Focus on what needs to be accomplished and you will see it happen.

for the majority of my life so far I've been conditioned (possibly not unlike yourself) to worry and plan and prepare for the future while a plan is good it needs to be open to change, for instance say you have what is commonly referred to as a five year plan. and say for years one and two things go smoothly. Well now part way through year three you break your leg (or other large bone) what happens? Does your plan dictate that you keep marching on or do you put it on hold? It's really up to you in the end, people are comfortable with either idea or may have other options. Bottom line here is you could have the best laid plan but life finds a way to through a hiccup your way once in a while.

I want to leave with a little exercise for anyone reading this. The next time you put in place some thing, some plan, some event that you're sure will help you along in some way shape or form, Or even if something pops up to hinder you just STOP for a moment, take a breath and say to yourself "we'll see."

Is that going to help anyone? We'll see...