estimated reading time: 5 mins.
I saw a few of my Facebook friends quoting a random post about what can be considered real luxuries these days:
A good night’s sleep, slow mornings, freedom to choose, time for fun and play, listening to birds singing, long walks, a good book, favorite home-cooked meal, colorful sunsets, ability to freely express yourself, day naps, and a good conversation.
Without much of a thought, I started checking-in, mentally ticking what I believe is achievable for me these days.
It dawned on me that I was indeed living a life of real luxury.
Yet somehow, I was restless.
I jerked out of sleep one night and my mind frantically leaped the whole nine yards towards the future:
What would be of me by 2065? Will I have grandkids by then, will I still be here? If I am not here, then where am I gonna be? What will I do without my loved ones? Why am I here? Am I missing anything I should have been doing? What should I do?
These thoughts felt heavy and paralyzing. I admit that when I let this kind of thinking take its course, the day feels a little bit more gloomy than how it was not supposed to be.
While preparing a meal on a separate evening, I decided to set up my iPad to play YouTube videos from Ascension Presents in the background. In the silence of my heart, I knew I was looking for answers and I was hoping to try to make sense of my restless emotions. I’ve been seeing videos of Ascension Presents popping in my feed for quite a while and that day I decided to immerse myself with their prayers and inspirations a little bit more, hoping to find relief and affirmation.
How to Stop Worrying About The Future (and Be in the Here and Now)
Here’s what I learned from Father Mark-Mary’s video.
1. Our worries were rooted mostly from our lack of focus. Lack of focus on the tangible moment and lack of focus on God’s spiritual presence at the moment.
3. Worrying raises questions that we cannot answer.
4. Instead of looking in that disquieting direction, we can focus on the here and now. Because in the here and now is where God is and His grace is. Remember that God’s grace is not for the 3 or 5 years far into the future, but the grace is for our daily bread, the grace to live today.
5. “What is the Lord doing now?” is a good question to insinuate disciplined imagination. Once we catch ourselves chasing thoughts to the unknown timelines and are tempted to think of the worst, we should stop right there and assert that these thoughts will actually not bear any fruits. We should then leave those thoughts to the Lord, come back to the present moment and focus on reflecting, “What is the Lord doing (for me) right now?”
6. Like any other discipline, taming our imaginations will be hard. Because our imagination and freedom to choose is a powerful gift that carries immense responsibility. But like any other habit, it can be formed by continuous practice. Like a muscle, disciplined imagination can be strengthened by consistent exercise.
I realized that I was in fact, allowing my imagination to run in full gallop into a lot of things and into the future. What Father Mark-Mary said is consistently true – worrying breeds more questions that I cannot even begin to answer. All it does is leave me stressed, anxious and fearful. It almost never gives any solution but only brings a lot of what ifs and a downward spiral of agitation and hollow emotions.
There were a few occasions where I was able to halt and catch myself, “Hold up, why am I even sad?” and that would be enough to save the day. But hearing all this brings clarity and makes so much more sense to what I have to work on. Disciplined imagination (loving the term), should be added to the daily practice of mindfulness given how a thinker I am; deep, imaginative, with wildly vivid dreams.
final thoughts
Zooming back in, we could always choose to instead be mindful of the present and the grace that comes with it. Waking up, having a functioning body, the chance to eat and drink, being safe and healthy, and by just being here – alive and breathing. These are what the Lord is gracing us in the here and now; we are gifted with so much joy and life. This is where our focus should lie.
On one note these existential thoughts probably only occur from the absence of big tangible problems or imminent physical danger – which is a good thing. But the mind has to work. It has to put on the discipline not to wander too much and stay right at the moment, remembering the presence of the Lord.
He is always with us.
We can always ask for help from the Prince of Peace, here and right now.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34
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