Today is the Time and Now is the Moment

Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realize the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are; and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again.” 

Meditations, Marcus Aurelius 

How much time have I wasted waiting for something to happen rather than doing that thing that was scratching at the back of my mind? What was the greater risk: to open the door to that thought and act upon it, or to wait and postpone opening the door to that thought? I think I know the answer. Yes, there is a need for prudence, but there is also a need for progress on that thing I wanted to do, but was either too afraid or too lazy to work towards. Anything worth doing requires a focused effort. These posts, for example, don't write themselves--although it may seem like they do. If I want to pursue something, advance my enlightenment by studying philosophy, it will require effort. There will come a day when everything will end for me, and if there is time to think before that happens, do I want that second, week, month to be filled with regret? I am on that path. Instead of working towards training my mind, I continue to waste my mind on the trivial. 

Step one: what is that "thing" worthy of my attention and energy? And what activity am I engaged in now that is preventing me from feeling that regret at my last moment? What would I pursue if I was told I had a year to live? I would be healthy, but would pass in 365 days? What would I do with my 365 days? And of course, it could be there is even less time because we don't know when the curtain will fall? It could be in mid-sentence, as I type these words, or it could be 30 years from now. What do I want to be doing with my time when I am called off the stage? Pursuing enlightenment... What is enlightenment? Understanding what in life has value and then living by that value. Be well. 

Staying Focused on the Project at Hand

What is my big project in life? Is it to buy a house? Get a good job? Produce art? Be happy? Have money set aside for retirement? Die with the most toys?

Each morning as I wake, I am confronted with my big project, but my efforts on most days are not directed toward advancing on it. My project is to work towards being a good person, a virtuous person. It's a big project but one that is mostly ignored. It should be at the center of my days. If I focus only on what is in front of me, and work towards doing the best that I possibly can, I am making progress. If I waste my time focusing on things out of my control, literally waste my life focusing on things that will not bring me closer to being that good person, I will continually be distracted. As a minor example, I reset my browser so that it doesn't offer up the days news to me. I found it to be the source of much distraction particularly given the recent big news about Jessica Simpson that kept appearing on my screen.

An innocent enough piece of clickbait, but the fact that it appeared on my screen all day, and I remembered it enough to mention it here, is a sad comment on what I allow into my brain. Part of being a good person surely has to be guarding what I allow into my head. If my day is filled with the absorption of trivia about trivia about trivia then what can the result be but a trivial mind?

The project at hand is to focus my mind on that which will add to my life not diminish it. Yes, it's fine to watch television dramas about life at Versailles when I am in control and know I am opening my mind to the trivial looking to be entertained. The insult to my time and life is when I hand over my mind without knowing. I will make sure the front door is locked 20 times a day, but how often do I make sure my mind is locked to those that wish to rob me of my own thoughts. And what do we have other than our thoughts? 

Guard your mind and stay focused on the task at hand. Be well.