Right Now

I recently found myself in the midst of upset around various things.  This experience was kicked off because house hunting wasn’t going as easily and magically as I had hoped.  That upset kicked open the floodgates and other sources of irritation ran to join in the fun!  I left the house for work with nothing resolved - because I didn’t have time work through these issues and “not enough time” was one of the irritants at play.  (Funny how that works, huh?  I’m irritated because of a belief in lack related to time and have the experience of not enough time…)

As I drove away stewing in a hell of my own creation, I asked myself “but what about right now?  What is happening in this moment?”  Well, I was driving my car to work.  I wasn’t rushed, because I had given myself enough time.  It was dark out and very quiet, which was enjoyable.  Nothing that I had been irritated about actually existed in that moment.  Upon further reflection, not of it actually existed at all.  Every bit of my frustration was based on some negatively imagined future or fearfully remembered past.  

This bit of self-reflection ended my frustration almost instantly.  I began thinking back to other moments when I had recently felt frustration, like when yet ANOTHER house we looked at wasn’t quite right.  What was that frustration based on?  A fear that we would never find the right house.  Without that negative future fantasy at play, one house not being the right house isn’t frustrating.  Right now, “never finding the right house” doesn’t and can’t exist.  Never can’t exist now.

This even works with currently existing situations.  Let's look at a flat tire.  What is so frustrating about a flat tire?  “Great, now I’m going to be late.  I’m going to get my hands all dirty.  I’m going to have to pay to get this fixed and I’ve other things to spend my money on. Etc., etc., etc.”  All negatively imagined future situations.  Right now though, the tire is flat.  It needs replaced.  I can call the people I’m meeting before I change it or after I change it to let them know I’m delayed.  I can handle what is in front of me much more effectively if I stay out of the possible negative outcomes and focus on what is right in front of me to do.

The next time you find yourself upset, observe your thoughts.  Are they in the present moment?  Are they contributing to your upset?  How could you direct your thinking back to the now moment?  What might change in your experience if you did?  Give it a shot.  You have nothing to lose but your upset.