“If you are depressed you are living in the past.
If you are anxious you are living in the future.
If you are at peace you are living in the present.”

―Lao Tzu

How would you define ideal timing - getting something when you wanted it? or getting something when it was time to get it?

Lao Tzu said if you are anxious you are living in the future. I’d say if you are impatient, you are also living in the future. There are times when we want something so bad that it nearly asphyxiates us to the point that the only possible resolve would be to acquire or attain that thing immediately. When in that position, we seemingly bask in the absence of reason, no matter how momentous or temporary. After all, now means now.

How often do we understand what we want and why we want them? Why must we want that thing now? Do we take a step back to think through possible consequences, or even possible influences? Do we find ourselves wanting something because someone else has it?

We’re humans, we are both the supply and the demand. There’s always going to be ‘the next thing’ to conquer, to live up to, to want. But if we think through the decision to acquire that which we think we want, we’d be able to know if we truly want them at all or at our chosen time. This way we put impatience in check and practice a form of discipline.

I believe that if something is supposed to happen, it will happen no matter what. There’s so much peace in this realization - it even ties to Lao Tzu’s quote “…if you are anxious you are living in the future, if you are at peace you are living in the present.” Life is slower when you’re impatient because it makes us think that something that’s supposed to happen at a later date, should happen immediately. Besides, living in that land of “what ifs” or “if only” means contentment has gone out the window. Just because something isn’t happening right now doesn’t mean it’s never going to happen. Tomorrow is a stranger to all of us, so fixating on the next thing means not enjoying present moments before they become memories.

Don’t let impatience allow you to abandon the present!

Until the next one

-C