Category: Awareness

Living in the moment beats striving. It feels better. When you’re striving, you are in a state that says, I need to be more, I need to become more, or I need to acquire more. All of this is simply a state of lack. It is not particularly fun to pursue goals when you’re driven by lack.

Also, striving can be surprisingly inefficient. If you’re always rushing about, trying to get things done, you might find yourself, not only exhausted, but quite unproductive as well. I find that it’s better to focus on the present moment, rather than rush towards goals. It’s better, not only for the process but often the outcome too.

A better thing to shoot for on a moment to moment basis is presence, not the perfection of the end product. Perfection is a massive burden. In the past, I spent an inordinate amount of time aiming for perfection. This doesn’t work. You have to just be in the moment and try your best.

A trick that I often use when I feel that my mind is racing, is placing awareness on my feet. I might, for instance, pay very close attention to each step that I take while walking down the stairs of my house. I can usually feel an immediate relaxation of the mind. There is a sense of moving back into the body.

This sense of moving back into my body is pleasant but not without discomfort. When I do this, I also become more aware of the emotional discomfort that was hiding behind the mental loops. The trick is to not immediately run away from that feeling by retreating back into the mind. The trick is to investigate the feeling.