I hope.

I hope to be there when my daughter grows old.

I hope to see her fall in love, to be there when her heart is broken and then made whole again.

I hope to see her succeed, to build things, to make her impact on the world.

I hope to be there when things are falling apart, when times are tough and chances seem slim.

I hope to see her being a goof ball. To see her laugh and try new things.

I hope to see her figuring things out, diving into problems and charting a new course.

I hope to see her sitting by the water, nothing more to do.

I hope to see her listen deeply, to witness her acts of kindness and her generosity with others.

We never know the hour or circumstances of our death. This life is like a child's shoelace, quick to come undone.

I hope I am blessed with the privilege of growing old, to be able to be present in the lives of my loved ones.

We can never be sure of what the future holds for us. We can only practice being present now and enjoying this brief moment that we have together. 

The path from here to there.

There is a path between the present and where you envision yourself in the future.  It might look like this:

A-B

A is the present, our current condition, what is real.  B is the result, the future or ideal.  Most people focus on the B.  Your B might be happiness or success, fame or fortune, family or fitness, or maybe even (B)uddha. 

It's easy to focus on the B.  To strive for attainment, for the result.  Everything around us is telling us to set our goals and to hit our mark.

But take a close look at the path (it's the hyphen!).  A life is in there.

There are good days and bad days, victories and defeats, friends and obstacles.  There are opportunities to be focused, and opportunities to deal with resistance.  There are moments to be generous, and moments to be overwhelmed by negative emotions. 

The path is where all of the transformation occurs.  The path is the conversion process that draws out all of the qualities and characteristics we are hoping to be present at the time of the result. 

The path is the gift that we get to share through our life and energy. 

We tend to experience a lot of dissatisfaction and discontent on the path, but that dissatisfaction and discontentment are due to our own perception of the path and our fixation on our desired result.

What if we shifted our posture, and focused on the practice of the path instead of the attainment of some future state?  That hyphen holds a lot of potential, we should make the most of it and also take joy in the opportunity that is present for us.  We have a lot to share. 

Preoccupied.

We are rational, reasonable people.  We make choices and chart a course based on the best information available.  We use critical thinking, we weigh the pros and cons, and we make a decision knowing that we are the ones responsible for our path.

We know this, but what really motivates our decisions?

Often we have goals for the future.  We have bigger plans for ourselves and try to make sure that we can enjoy our future.  We think that the underlying motivation for our decisions is based on our future goals, but what if it was actually from our present fear?

What if our decisions are influenced by a fear lurking in the shadows of our mind that we haven't even acknowledged?

What if all of our goals and plans are based on this unspoken fear?  

We live our lives charting a course, thinking that we are making our way to happiness, but what if every choice and every action is really just another maneuver to escape our fear?   If we never turn and face it, will we ever truly be free?

What does it mean to be self-reliant if our minds are always preoccupied by fear?

Straying into confusion.

The gap between the present and the future is the source of all fear and uncertainty. 
It is the ground which gives birth to infinite fictitious worlds. 
It is the demon from which we run and hide,
the instigator of selfish actions and irrational choices.

When we stray from our natural state of being-
a peaceful state of clarity and inner wealth-
we stray into a wheel of confusion.