true enough: we cannot be happy in the future,
we can only be happy now, in the present
the same is true for unhappy
go figure
From the category archives:
human living
not distinguishing pain from suffering is itself suffering
past and future exist only in the conversations we have about them
each moment is as it is;
to say that it “should” be some other way
only weighs down the one who says “should”
the one free extension is almost done,
taxes are due in three more days,
I have no IRS approved excuse for delaying any longer;
I could do them now,
but there’s still three days
instead I write thes lines;
absent a true emergency
they’ll be filed on time,
they always are
I used to worry and call myself a procrastinator,
now I worry not and just call me me
gratitude arises along with the preference for what is
what turns you on is what turns you on . . . and sometimes it surprises you
in America one speaks not of the attendant sorrows of aging lest one be thought old
a critical distinction in living an examined life: your experience and the explanation of your experience
what once was unimaginable
has this day come to pass –
sixty-five
you discover your own path at the end, if there is one
when does the past become the present and the present, the future?
the illusion of certainty is just that, an illusion
mortality appears
when the obituaries
could be yours
suffering includes the vain hope that right now things can be other than they are
having the “truth” won’t set you free, but it will blind the hell out of you
living always occurs, only occurs, in the present
the denial of aging is the denial of death
I’m taking a break from daily posting. I’ll start again by August 17th.
Best,
Richard
good friends are love in the Way made flesh
suffering comes from our attachment to preferences (or desires), not their occurrence
(with thanks to Seng-ts’an and Richard Clarke)
like autumn leaves I am dying,
much more slowly,
no less certainly
only now!
then is now!
only now!
we act on our desire, not our reason; without desire, nothing happens
with thanks to Humberto Maturana
the self is good for distinguishing oneself from others, other than that…
the “law of karma” is a story told to encourage people who behave badly to behave better
being present, being here now, is not a choice or an act of will, but an outcome in living best characterized as a gift
we can accept our pain without liking it even though the pain remains until it, as all things, passes
sprinting amidst the concerns of everyday life we miss both the finite and the infinite now
for good or ill human beings can believe just about anything . . . I know, I have
there’s nothing to do but what we’re doing until the next moment when we’ll be doing that, whatever that may be
looking forward into the stream of living,
I see hopes, dreams, plans, expectations;
looking back, I see the luck of the drift
a way doesn’t show up in the walking,
it shows up in the telling