Choices in 15 minute intervals at a time

Recently, I have been worrying about the future. I am long past dwelling on the past, but I still feel I am not living up to my potential. Worry is a killer, a stress maker. I had a lot of it lately.

I've just read that the more one lives in the present, the better one masters life and continues growing as a spiritual being. I've lost that somehow recently.

I used to live in 15-minute intervals at the time; for practical purposes, that is about the closest one can get to daily things without full meditative awareness.

You have to have your priorities straight and your values set to know what the right thing to do is at the moment. That takes time to develop. You can learn from smarter parents, peers, or your own mistakes if nobody around you fits the profile of a mentor.

Let me explain: In your 15-minute intervals, ask yourself, "What am I doing to enhance my life?" That can be anything:

- studying for cerebral growth
- watching an educational program
- eating food for health
- exercising for strength and good mental attitude
- attending school
- deciding to go to sleep to replenish the energy, rest is essential
- playing with the baby for her sake
- spend time with family and friends

What you don't want is to waste time, waste your life. When you vegetate in front of the TV watching a really bad Sci-Fi show, or worse, a soap opera, you just waste time. You don't rest, you don't get stronger, you grow weaker.

I noticed that if you put this practice into life, you don't worry about the past and the future because you are already doing the best you can.

Another miracle is that sooner or later, you end up achieving more than you had dreamed at the beginning, and the achievement feels effortless, because you did not struggle to reach it. You just lived your life one-fifteen-minute moment at a time.

If you side-track from the practice, bad things happen: you get depressed and discouraged; life becomes an unbearable weight you cannot handle; you may end up doing stupid things you will be paying for a long time to come.

Finally, ending on a Buddhist note: nothing is bad, nothing is good; things just are in their own suchness. You don't make good or bad decisions to regret in the future.

You can eat your rice with a fork, a hand, or a chopsticks -- all methods are equally good and will serve the purpose. The question is, which one will you choose at this moment? You should not get attached to any particular one. If you dine in Japan, learn the chopsticks; in India, use your hand, etc. Whole life is full of choices. Be aware.