Thinking Beyond the Next Bite

Life. Life is good. Life is wonderful. Life can be hard as well. Very often I find myself trying to look into the future of life. I think beyond the here and now and look to the there and then. Qui-Gon would not be pleased.

"Don't center on your own anxieties, Obi-Wan, keep your concentration Here and Now, where it belongs." - Qui-Gon

But I believe all of us, or nearly all, or at least some... okay maybe it is just me, think of where the next step will take us and end up tripping over our own feet in the current step.

Here is an illustration by movie scene. Here's the scene. A man and a woman are sitting on a bench eating ice cream. They are outside on a street mall area with many street shops. It is early evening. There are quite a few people walking this way and that, shopping, laughing, talking, some walking hand in hand. The man shifts slightly to face the woman and he speaks:

guy: So what do you think?

girl: About what?

guy: About all this? About all I've said?

girl: I don't think anything about it. You ask too many questions. Why do you ask so many questions?

guy: Because I want to know what to expect. I want to know what you are thinking.

girl: I am just thinking about this bite. Why do you always need to think about the next bite? Just enjoy this bite for what it is.

guy: Good point.

[short pause]

guy: So what do you think about this bite?

This is just a brief illustration of how we (or at least I) often handle expectations. I find myself in the position of the guy in the scene. I don't want my expectations to run amok so that I end up getting hurt. So I try to constantly adjust my expectations to match the current situation. I am trying to control the future by predicting actions and outcomes. In moderation, this is good, this is normal. In excess, it leads to the suffering. Why do we do this? Because we are afraid. And as we all know...

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." - Yoda

So what happens when you find yourself doing this too much? What happens when you over-analyze everything and your analysis is not always correct? Well, you end up making mistakes. You end up in a self-fulfilling prophecy and you get hurt. I don't like that. I would have to think most people don't like that.

The illustration by movie scene continues. The man and woman have left the park bench and are walking down the street mall. They are walking slowly, still eating the ice cream. The man speaks:

guy: So then, I should just enjoy this bite, and not think of the next bite or the consequences. There is power in this.

girl: What are talking about? What power?

guy: The power of freedom. Live for today.

girl: That's not exactly what I meant.

guy: I know. I just wanted to exaggerate to make a point.

girl: What point?

guy: That if I don't think about the next bite to some extent, I could have bad consequences. I would then think differently about the bites that came before. I may regret them. I could end up wishing I never had them.

girl: Good point.

[short pause]

girl: I don't think I can finish my ice cream.

Enough said.