Today, I’d like to veer off the superfoods path to think aloud. I am still in the process of remodeling the site, so please bear with its disarray and lack of non-blog material.
Moving on…
Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing some old friends and acquaintances and it stirred up many questions and emotions within me.
Not the kind of questions that require answers, but the kind that are open ended, unfold silently within the context of our lives, are answered as the content of our lives and then are enfolded within us and become things like wisdom, compassion, understanding or maybe even a healthy doubt or confusion that leads to more questioning and eventually to some kind of awakening or awareness.
That is our lives…a constant unfolding and enfolding of the present moment. The future becomes the present, the present becomes the past and the past becomes a dream…all at once.
It has been said by many wise people from philosophers to religious figures to ordinary folk who know some subtle truths about life that we should keep our focus in the present moment.
But since the present becomes the past before we can even respond, does it not make more sense to deal with the future (not in a worrying, longing, daydreaming, craving kind of way) because it is is always about to be the present?
How would such a practice work?
Are these the kind of questions that are better left to be answered by the unconscious aspect of our minds so that they can be processed, integrated and left to surface organically as something useful in consciousness?
I think it all boils down to letting go in many small moments over and over and over as often as we can remember. Kind of like when they say one day at a time in A.A. But in this case, it is one moment at a time.
From my experience, once we’ve let go, truly let go, then and only then can we see our lives in a way that enables us to determine what makes the most sense.
If this is the case then a large part of our lives and our practice (if we have one) is remembering to remember.
With this remembering to remember would be much less efforting, much more freedom and certainly more energy, focus and joy.
Just thinking aloud!
What do you think?
Until next time…
Kind Regards,
A
Cindy
Lisa McLellan
Anthony
Darryl Pace
Keri Eagan
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Vicki
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Peggy Larson
Great post! I like when you write like this…it is “old-school” Anthony. You made me think in a way I should do more often. This is when you are at your best. Thanks for reminding me to remember to remember.
Remembering to remember is a tough one my friend. I suspect those who meditate (I am assuming you do on the regular judging by your writing/thinking) and are not burdened with intense emotions are likely to be more efficient at it.
I know when I am unburdened, I have a pretty clear head and am much more free to be myself.
Letting go.
I’m not sure how I do that.
Sometimes if I’m feeling weird I’ll ask myself if I could let that feeling go.
Sometimes I can. Sometimes I can’t.
My mind always thinks I can. My body most often disagrees.
Perhaps I should try letting go of figuring that out?
And right now maybe I should let go of feeling like I might accidentally have said something that sounded a bit profound…
Cool post. It made me think…
On an other note… go to my blog and sign-up for my Market Testing Kit. It’ll rock…
I think I love it. I think I love what you are saying. We can never truly escape our past because it is what makes us who we are today. We grow from our experiences and it’s so nice to grow and move so far away. Seeing old friends in a reunion type setting gives us an opportunity to take a step back in time, and reminisce times past. While you do that though, you build on time present.
You rekindle old relationships once again that you grew away from. Maybe in some ways you regain what we lost our past relationships. It’s beautiful.
JJ,
Letting go of letting go is a big one. But as you progress in your practice and with time it just drops off.
Yes, I’d hate to see you say something profound. You might wake us all up! And then what?
Anthony
Cindy,
That reminds me of the old sayings, “you can never return home” and “you can never step in the same river twice.”
Everything is ephemeral so holding on is an exercise in futility.
It is nice to remember people and pleasant experiences but I think we get in trouble when we try to recreate things. Kind of like an addiction…the addict slowly detroys his/her life in an attempt to escape reality while trying to recreate that initial high over and over…it is a trap.
It is always best to see the dead end sign at the beginning of the road rather than at the end. Saves a wasted journey!
Remember to remember.. I love when you remind me of the simple yet important and useful tools. I have yet to see the movie in which most of you are referring. The Secret. I expect that I will enjoy it as most of you guys have. I’m always last to hear mostly everything. Oh well, I’m not a loop kinda girl. Some would say I am “loopy”. LOL. Thanks again Anthony for reccommending the move ( or atleast sparking an intrest”. I have always enjoy your picks! Wish I had more insight.
Jody/loopy, bye.
Hey! I have a bad joke for you…
Q: Why don’t Buddhists vaccuum the corners of the room?
A: They don’t have any attachments.
Yes. I know. Hilarious, isn’t it?!
JJ,
That is a good one! I love it and going to victimize all my Buddhist friends with it.
Hi Jody,
I think you are mistaken. I never recommended that movie. I have actually spoken out against how it has caused some magical thinking and has been a vehicle for much (and I do mean much)exploitation as have many of the readers of this blog.
If you are interested you can look into my archives and read the post called:
“Warning: The Secret is Responsible for an Outbreak of New Agers Disease”
I am curious (if you can remember to remember) and would love to know how you came to the conclusion from reading this blog that I recommended that movie? I am a little confused on that one.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Anthony,
Your blog post reminds me of “Karma Yoga”, union with God (Inner Self or whatever we care to call THAT) through our daily actions.
In Karma Yoga, we perform actions out of a sense of duty WITHOUT expecting rewards or fruits of the actions. As such, we put ourselves in a fast track to become truly FREE (“letting go”): free from karma, free from birth & death cycle ….
Karma & Destiny is always a fascinating subject.
>
It is always best to see the dead end sign at the beginning of the road rather than at the end. Saves a wasted journey!
>
If we care to listen & analyse, our past experience often can help us to avoid dead end well in advance.
As to Jody’s mentioning of film “The Secret”, it’s just another example how we see the world as we expect rather than what the world is really is. We’re often in the SAME boat as she is. Both our past experience and our personalities are our filters to the world.
John Ho
Numerology Expert Helps Understanding Personality for Better Influence & Persuasion (WordPress Blog)
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Numerology Expert Helps Understanding Personality for Better Influence & Persuasion
Well, as I stated I can be a tad bit “LOOPY”.
I read your blog thru my iPhone and chose the option to be notified with follow up comments (on old or fresh posts).
* someone commented on the older post and I clicked assuming it was new.
* I read the post ( it was late).
* went to your latest post, “Letting go. Remembering to Remember”.
* I guess I crossed wires and meshed my comments together. Whoops! Sorry for the confusion. Yet, thank you for help in clarifying. Your nice like that. I’m still going to chech out the movie, I feel compelled. LOL. Well, that’s my story n I’m stickin to it. Lol .
This very moment is the very moment you’ll be in 5, 10, 20 years from now. Every moment is a memory and a beginning too.
Thanks for helping me with this new memory!
Lynn Lane
http://www.Warriorofsuccess.com
Warrior Of Success Training
Perhaps in my joy, you read into too much from what I said. Yes, you can’t step in the same river twice, and yes, what’s lost is lost, you cant regain it. You can’t regain times past. But you can regain laughter in times present. You can enjoy reminiscing past stories, and you can in some instances pick up again a relationship from your past.
I guess for me, what I am trying to say is some things come back full cirlce round. Sometimes people re-appear in your life for a reason. When you look at the world as I choose to do, I am not looking at anything as a dead end. What is dead about relationships that are alive? I am not understanding you here?
Now maybe for your situation, holding on to something can seem like an addiction.
I dont feel I hold on to anything or really have expectations. I guess for me being the kind soul that I am (maybe not always-but for the most part), I usually am open to people and if they want a relationship or a friendship then I would ususally be willing if there is compatability. If it doesnt happen, then no hard feelings. But when it does, I think it’s rather nice. It’s actually beautiful because many times you have a childhood history. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just choosing to see the goodness in people. And maybe I dont even really have a point..lol..
Someone once said, that “love” is all that remains the same. So you could view that with friedships too. I’m not expecting things to be what they were. But I still remember the feelings I once had for a person. Those memories are all relevant to who we have become today at present.
Am I wrong to have that outlook?
Cindy,
Very beautiful and well said! You are not wrong at all to have that outlook!
Having desires and longings are not bad in and of themselves. It is our attachment to desire that causes the problems because, like you said, with attachment comes expectation.
Expectation is often a form of greed as are certain forms of desire and lead to disapointment. That is what I meant about the dead end…attachment to our desires or to anything is a dead end and better to realize that up front.
It is nice to connect and reconnect with people and it is equally nice to be okay with letting them go if it does not work out or if it is time for the relationship to change or end…everything is impermanent and goes away anyway. You can’t turn ash back into firewood!
Hi Anthony,
This my friend is a very thought provoking post!
As i’ve always thought that the present moment is the most important thing to put ones focus on and if you do that then the future becomes the vision you have in your head, and i must admit the thought of letting go, is a sense of security issue I guess
It has shifted my thinking
Awesome stuff
Duane
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I have a hard time letting go of lots of things. It takes a conscious effort. Great post. I love your writing.
Lisa McLellan
Babysitting Services – Babysitters and Nannies
Very, interesting Anthony. There are times in life when we all want what we want and we want it now. “Human Nature.” But, I have been finding out that the more I push things in my life the less I get. When I try to be present and conscious to things that are in my life, they happen as they were meant to be. Letting go can be hard for people, due to they don’t understand things and do not know how to handle them correctly. But, we can find ways to “LET GO” the more we try to do this and be present. Our lives just unfold how they are suppose to, as opposed to how we want them to be. Great Post. Thanks.
Remembering to remember is indeed difficult. That is what a practice is for. We train ourselves just like we would for a race of some sort or to be in a certain profession. We can’t let go and come back to presence if we don’t remember to!
Very nice post and I also agree with the commenter who said you are at your best when you are writing from your own heart/mind and experience. You have much wisdom to share and do it in such a simple and humble way.
I never was a fan of big, lofty metaphysical presentations by supposed gurus. Something always turned me off to those things even when the teaching was solid. I guess it’s a case of not trusting the messenger or not liking them.
Joe
Anthony,
Letting go moment by moment would be ideal. Can a human being truly ever reach the state where he/she does this all the time, or nearly all the time? I dunno. I do know that I’m not there yet, but that I’m a lot better than I was when I was, say, in my 20s. Hopefully a few years from now I’ll be able to look back and see how I’ve progressed from where I am at present.
As usual, thought provoking post!
Talk with you soon.
Btw, I’m listening to a little “quietude” while I go through these blogs. It’s good ish man!
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