Planning, remembering, and worry

More “thoughts” about meditating on thought

When I suggested staying in the moment to a good friend who is quite the planner, a self-proclaimed control freak, she confided that she adores making schedules and project templates and imagining setting things in motion. “That’s lovely,” I told her. I too love to plan, especially planning travel to races in different states or to see presidential libraries with Ed.

But we do that planning right now. We sit at desks and hop on websites. We call the airlines or get on the app. We’re not there yet. That all happens later. The more present we can be, and the more aware of our thoughts and feelings while we make plans, the more compassion we have for the possibly overworked travel agent, hotel reservation specialist, or car rental agent; the more flexible we can be about the options, the better both the planning and possibly the trip, will go.

Planning is in the future. Remembering is in the past. Mindfulness is in the present. Now. Here. Be.

We can’t plan for the future in the future. And we’re not in the past when we’re thinking about the past. We’re here. We make the plans for tomorrow, today. We remember things we did or said in the past, now. It’s all happening now. There isn’t any yesterday or tomorrow. There is only now.