Work In the Now

“Do what you can, with where you are and with what you have.” Imagine if we heeded these wise words, made it the dictum of our life, and truly lived by it. The result wouldn’t be hard to guess; something most of us long for – living in the now. But we do just the contrary. Looking before and after, and pining for what is not! And then we wonder why we aren’t able to focus, stay ‘tuned’, or attend to ‘things at hand’. The trouble, if you’d like to call it so, begins in our attitudes! Trying to control the uncontrollable. Dissipating energy on factors beyond our control. And believing that “worrying about a thing will automatically make it go away”, is one of the most common errors humans make. Somehow, we have faultily learnt that if we give attention to things important to us, some magical powers that be will help us find solutions! Akin to the belief, ‘black cats bring bad luck!’ So let's question our assumptions or better still, our superstitions. Yes, because groundless ideas are nothing better than fallacies. Beliefs unfounded on facts! Functioning in the now (whether at home or work) is improved by adopting ideas that are realistic. The reality is that when you are at work, you are NOT at home and vice versa. Fretting about whether the gas cylinder has been delivered, the phone repaired, or the leakage plugged, is hardly going to help or fix it. If it is so preoccupying, ACT and DO something about it. Get to the phone, make that call and give that instruction. Brooding without action is similar to the idea that by being in possession of a book you have mastery over it! Do. Don’t stew!

• If something takes the centre stage of your mind, you will not be able to focus on anything else, because the mind cannot think two things at the same time. Do what you can, if you can, to solve the problem at hand. If not, submit and never mind it.