Friday – TGIF

Now, this moment as I write, the day is labeled Friday. Many proclaim, “Thank God it’s Friday!” not so much out of a sense of gratitude for the present moment, but rather for the anticipation of the weekend and days off and not being enslaved to perhaps a job they do not particularly like doing. The weekend signals a time for some in which they are free to do what they choose to do. For others it may also signal a time for other errands and tasks around our living space.

If we are to live more in the present moment with a sense of peace, we must find a sense of acceptance even in the jobs that we continually think of as negative. As long as we wishing we were somewhere else, we are resisting the present moment. This dynamic of course leads to negative emotions and a sense of suffering or discontent at some level.

If the situation we find ourselves in is very negative in our view, we always have the option to walk away. Of course in ‘slow’ economic times, if we walk away from a job, it is possible we may not find a better job more suited to our liking. We can also do a slow walk away from a job by planning our next step, defining what we would like to be doing, perhaps getting some training for a new occupation.

Another option, if we are in a situation we do not like is to examine our own expectations and what we don’t like about it. Are we judging others? Are we blaming others? Are we in a victim identity that sees like continually happening to us in some negative way?

In order to be at peace in the present, we must find a way to accept or surrender to the moment without negativity. We can more easily do this by focusing on how we are doing the task before us… focusing on how we are responding to the situation at hand. Accepting what is does not mean we agree and embrace the situation. Surrendering to our life circumstances does not mean we cannot make some change, either in our situation or attitude. Accepting “what is” is exactly that…. Agreeing that this moment I am right here, right now, and this seems to what is going on.

We really do not know what is going on. We project our story based on our beliefs, thoughts, and opinions. Whether something is good or bad is quite relative to the thoughts we have about the person, place, or situation.

Our Life situation is not who we are. Our emotions and thoughts about a particular circumstance is not who we are. We become lost in our culture quite easily in identifying with our mind… our thinking… and often think that, of course is who we are. In fact, stilling our mind, becoming present to the now, lifts us beyond personal identities into a sacred space that is beyond the confines of time. The present moment is all there ever is. Of course we think of tomorrow and often need to do so to plan for the activities of everyday life. And if we consider it, we know tomorrow, when it does come is always the present moment.

The same is true of thoughts and memories focusing on “the past”… yesterday… Yesterday is gone. But for many, we keep playing old videos in our mind of what was in some other “Now”… focus on the past, is another way of not being in the present… Of course it is like going on an amusement ride to trip down memory lane with old friends. It can also keep us in the dark if we are replay old pains and hurts from the past that are no longer present. We actually keep them alive by our ‘victim’ subpersonality, or identity, which really serves no purpose other than distracting us from being present now. Many therapies that dwell of finding things in the past can also simply delay our living in the present. This is not to say that trauma that happened to us does not need to be released and healed so we can have a more complete sense of wholeness and life in the present moment.

So today, as I write, it’s a day we have labeled “Friday”… I thank God it is Friday, because it is Now… it is this precious moment… and I give thanks that Life continues to breathe through this form called John.


Note: Other than being defined as the 6th day of the week, “Friday” is also the day of the goddess (Venus) … and, as in Robinson Crusoe (boy Friday or girl Friday) can refer to a helper and companion.