Making Plans

In a couple of recent posts, How to Slow Down Time and In the Zone, I was talking about a recurring theme in this blog: living in the moment, as promoted by Eckhart Tolle in his book The Power Of Now. This is all about being in touch with our senses: focusing on whatever we're actually doing at the time, instead of being lost in a tangle of thoughts as we so often are. I've described this myself in more detail in another earlier post, Feeling What Is.

One criticism which is often leveled at the idea of being in the moment, especially by those who wish to dismiss it as a 'new age fad', is that of course this is impossible, or at any rate unwise, because we have to plan ahead to organize our lives. We have to think about the future because we have to be prepared for whatever life has in store for us. At the very least, we need to make sure we have some food in for dinner tonight.

Now strictly speaking, it is said that we humans are able to reach a state in which we don't have to plan ahead. If we become enlightened, we will be so in touch with the flow of life that we respond spontaneously and effectively to whatever life may throw at us. We are permanently 'in the zone', like a pro sportsman in touch with his game, as I described in a recent post.

But most of us, regrettably, are not enlightened - at any rate, not yet. Even after dabbling in this spiritual stuff for some time, I am only catching glimpses of this wonderful state of being for myself. But that doesn't mean to say that living in the moment is impossible for us. Yes, we have to plan for the future, but we don't have to do it all the time.

If we have a meeting tomorrow, for instance, we may have to think about what we want to say - perhaps jot some notes down on a piece of paper - and work out when we will have to set off to arrive in time. If it is an important meeting, we may even think about what we should wear to create the right effect. But we don't have to spend all day thinking about it. We don't have to think endlessly on about what we should wear, or whether we will be held up in traffic, or whether we should set three alarm clocks instead of just two to make sure we wake up in time. We don't have to turn these things over and over in our minds as we go about our day. And yet this is what we often tend to do. Which means that real life - the actual business of living - goes on almost unnoticed around us.

When I was a kid, I used to love the vacation and hated going back to school (at least until I got there, at which point I realized it wasn't so bad after all). So because of this fear, I used to spend my final day of freedom in a state of dread about what was to come: all those lessons, all that homework, aaagh! Then one day, I realized that I was wasting a perfectly good day of the vacation by worrying about all this. I could have been enjoying that day instead of being miserable all the time. So I decided that in future, I would save worrying about going back to school until the final evening of the vacation. That way, I could enjoy myself for the rest of the day.

And that is what I did from then on.

If I'd been really smart of course, I'd have decided not to worry about school at all, not even in the evening, but even so, I don't think I did too badly for a twelve year old.

There's no reason why we can't adopt a similar approach to life in general. If there is something you have to plan for, ask yourself if there's anything you need to do about it now. If so, take that action. If not, then put the matter out of your mind for the time being until some specified time which you designate for doing the necessary planning. When that time arrives, give the matter the thought it requires. Then put it out of your mind again until one of two things happens: either some further prearranged planning time arrives or the thing you are planning for - gosh, wow - actually happens.

Occasionally, of course, something unexpected will come along which will require you to give the event additional attention - you have to be flexible. But generally speaking, organizing your planning time in this way will free up a lot of space in your brain for other things - like paying attention to actually living your life.

Which is all very well, but if you're like me, you may find yourself hearing a little voice in your mind from time to time which tells you that you are being irresponsible in not worrying about this event in your life that's about to happen. It is your duty to be worried, it may tell you. It's very important - you have to think about it! "But I've decided to think about it on Tuesday morning at half past ten," you reply. "That will give me plenty of time for all the planning I need." Ah yes, the voice says, unconvinced, but you should be worrying about it now. You should be worrying yourself sick. You should be...

Just tell it to shut up, that's my advice. You've taken any action you need to take at the moment. You've prearranged the necessary planning time. If anything unexpected turns up in the meantime, you will deal with it then. That's all you need to do. It is not your duty to worry about it now, quite the opposite. It is your duty not to worry. The more you worry about it, the more wear and tear you will put on your nervous system and the less effectively you may deal with the event when it actually happens. What is more, you will be missing out on life while you worry away. This is your life we're talking about here. It only happens once - and you have a responsibility to be there when it does.

In any case, it is wrong to assume that just because you are not consciously thinking about something, you are failing to give it any attention. From time to time, you have probably woken up from a night's sleep to find that you suddenly have a solution to some problem which has been troubling you. This is because your subconscious mind has been dealing with it while you were asleep.

Yet your subconscious mind can also work on problems while you are awake, especially if you are not getting in the way of it by turning them over and over again in your conscious mind. So give your subconscious a chance and focus on whatever is happening in the present moment instead. Then you may find that when your prearranged planning time arrives, you have subconsciously done a lot of the planning already.

What is more, when we are in the moment, we seem to tap into a source of what appears to be almost supernatural energy. (I don't think it is really supernatural - it's just that we don't understand it yet...) This source can manifest itself in a great many ways. One of them is in the perfect connection of bat on ball when a sportsman is 'in the zone'. And perhaps that same enormous power can be brought to bear on this problem of yours, on your plans for the future, on all aspects of your life... if you can only learn to put them out of your mind.

 

These may also be of interest:

Don't Worry - Be Happy!

In The Zone

Comments

[Sue Ann Edwards]

Hi Simon!

Have you ever thought about insurance and why we buy it?

We're not really afriad of something happening to us, we're REALLY afraid of being able to cope it without loss.

You mentioned a particular activity of ours: worry. And you're right about it. Don't listen.

For to worry, we must be living in the past, when some 'bad' thing happened that we don't want to happen again. Thus, we worry.

Worrying brings exactly what we worrying about, right to our door. Because we usually respond not to the situation as it is Now but, to the previous situation. And our responses, actually create the same situation again, simply because our perspective is so colored and distorted by the past.

[Chase March]

I love your blog.

I have been reading "The Power of Now" and totally agree that we should try to live in the present moment.

It reminds me of a fridge magnet that my mom had years ago. It read "Stop worrying, you'll never get out of this world alive."

At the time I wasn't sure what it meant but I think it is telling us to stop worrying and start living. Good advice.

[Sally]

My tip for staying present when planning is to get it out of my head and down on paper .......then I can stop myself reminding me not to forget to......do whatever it is over and over again. If I overplan what I am going to do you can bet the Universe always throws a last minute change in there to keep me on my toes and remind me that I am not in charge. Letting go is the secret to this .......do what you have to and then let go of any expectation of the outcome. Usually works for me!

[Guilty Secret]

This is great, Simon. I love how you point out that if you need to plan for something, this is something you need to do *now* so it still is living in the now. If you want do anything to plan for it, let go, it's not now.

Great :)

[Marion]

Very well expressed post, Simon!

And you're right...there is a sort of 'mad' energy that happens when I'm in the present moment. Time has no meaning.

I hear that little voice that tells me what I 'should' be doing, and it's always fearful. It's always lacking faith. I don't listen, either.

[Secret Simon]

Hi Sue Ann - Thanks for this. A friend of mine used to work in insurance. “I sell peace of mind,” he used to say, having presumably been taught that on his training course. “Ha!” is my reply. That isn’t my experience. When I take out insurance, I end up worrying about the insurance. Did I declare everything? Is there something in the small print that I missed? I’m convinced that if I just put in that extra bit of worrying, I’ll finally get the paperwork right and then I really will have peace of mind… Just one more sleepless night and I’ll be there…

What I need to understand – and I’m working on it! – is that we live in an insecure world, and no amount of checking this and insuring that and hiding beneath the sofa is going to change it. So what I need to do is to take whatever steps common sense dictates to protect myself and my loved ones and then put the whole thing out of my mind. Accept that the world is not secure – and be at peace with that.

Chase – Many thanks for your generous comment! I think your mom’s fridge magnet was saying the same thing as I was saying just now. No amount of insurance will give you total security and no amount of worrying will give you eternal life. It’s the silly idea that we can get to a point where “everything is all right” that makes us worry when it isn’t. It’s like you say, Chase, we just need to start living. The time is now and we’re alive. That’s where our focus should be.

[Secret Simon]

Sally –Thanks for reminding us of the power of the written word! Putting things down on paper is a great way to stop things cluttering up your brain. Sometimes I find myself going back to that piece of paper to find all the thoughts there, ready for me to do the necessary work with them when the time is right. But on other occasions, I find that I never go back to the piece of paper at all. It turns out that those thoughts which had been clamoring for so much attention in my mind weren’t important after all! Either way, writing things down is a great way to free up your brain space for all-important business of living your life.

You’re quite right, GS, that everything we do is always in the now. That’s not only the cool place to be, it’s the *only* place we can be… really – much as our mind keeps telling us the lie that it’s much less important than the past and the future.

I’m glad you liked the post, Marion! To be honest, I *do* listen to that voice sometimes, and yes, it’s always afraid. It comes back to peace of mind again, I think. That’s what we’re scared of losing. The voice tells us that there’s a monster round the corner which will take that peace of mind away. But really it’s not the monster that’s taking away our peace of mind. It’s the voice.

Which come back full circle to Sue Ann’s comment: “worry brings exactly what we’re worrying about”. It’s because we’re scared of losing our peace of mind that we lose our peace of mind. (For some reason, I find myself thinking of the Wizard of Oz...)

Thanks for all your contributions!

[thethinker]

I don't think I've ever really had a day where I'm not thinking/worrying about the future. To be certain, there have probably been some moments where I haven't thought about the future, but it is constantly on my mind. Worry is just a part of my daily life.

[Secret Simon]

Hi Thinker - Great to hear from you, but I guess that name of yours says it all! I seem to keep coming across bloggers who are thinking/worrying a lot and also seem to have a problem with insomnia (as I know you do from having read your excellent blog). Could there be some connection, I wonder? And I keep saying: do read that book I keep going on about: Practicing The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle (or the longer version, The Power Of Now if you want more explanation). It really does show that we don't have to do all this worrying: there *is* a different way to be. And I'm really really sorry if I sound like one of those guys who knocks on your door in a suit and tie and tries to foist a new set of beliefs down your throat. All I'm trying to say is: hey, this is something you might consider reading and seeing what you reckon. I think it might help.

[Sue Ann Edwards]

{{hugs}} Simon,

Of all things you statement "we live in an insecure world" buzzed me.

Do we really?

Isn't that our choice?

(cheshire cat grin)

For many years I know I did. Now I do not. The only change I made was in my value system. I actually switched my value system from an 'outer' one to an 'inner' one. This came as a result of my self discovery, self realization and self recognition.

It's our wounds, emotional and mental, that keep us living in the past and projecting into the future. As we heal these wounds, we let go of the past and, have no worries for the future, so we are free to live in the Present. It is what has beeen called 'collapsing time'.

Emotional and mental pain is not like physical pain. We can remember being in physical pain but cannot recreate that same experience simply by thinking about it. Where with mental and emotional pain, we can actually experience it renewed, just by thinking about it. Because the wounds have never been healed.

[Simon]

Hi again Sue Ann! Thanks for explaining this concept of 'collapsing time'. You are, of course, quite right. At least part of the reason we're scared of the future is that it may bring us more of the pain we've felt in the past. If that pain is healed and so eradicated, the future is no longer such a scary place and so we can put it out of our minds. All I can say is: I'm working on it!

As for the world being insecure, yes - I think the material world *is* insecure. There will always be death. There will always be loss. It is the way things are. But if we can change our perspective - I mean, *really* change our perspective, as you have - these things need no longer bring us the pain they presently do.

[Liara Covert]

Hi Simon.

You energize anything and everything, if you think about it. You create it or give it life. If Some issue or prospect bothers you, train yourself not to permit fear to bother you. After all, you imagined fear so you can also imagine it away.

[Simon]

Hi Liara - Thanks for this. As we grow up, we are trained to take on the burden of being an adult. They tell us we can't just please ourselves any more. We have to be *responsible*. So we are trained to stop trusting in the universe and start thinking about all the things which might go wrong instead. That way, we as responsible adults will be ready to step in and put them right when they do. And it's surprising how many of them *do* go wrong, is it not?

But as you say, what we have been doing is energizing these potential problems. What we have to do now is to forget what we've learned and realize that it is really our responsibility *not* to worry: a piece of retraining I'm finding rather hard.

[Will]

Excellent points. I run a business and I use this technique...it took me a while to get there. The 6 months of running the start up that I set up, I was continuously thinking about everything. This had a fairly negative impact on my operational efficiency and my private life. Since then I've been making sure I keep my thinking time where it should be and don't let it creep and take over my life. This also helps a great deal in dealing with stress. To quote Dale Carnegie, old school but good (in my opinion): live in day tight compartments. Excellent advice.

[Secret Simon]

Many thanks for your comment, Will. I'm pleased that you have found this approach effective 'at the coal face'!