If You Want Success Today, Let Yesterday Go And Stop Seeking Tomorrow
- 53 Comments... Click to Contribute
Bear with me here, this is going to sound a little strange, especially for a business blog, but I promise you there is a very powerful lesson to be found within these words – powerful for business success too.
Last night (as I write this article) I found myself sitting down on the floor in a half circle of people facing some musical instruments that were waiting patiently for their musician masters to come and start playing. I was told that I was attending a “Kirtan Session” with David Stringer and there would be chanting involved.
My immediate response when I found out where I was going was – “Will I have to chant?”
I’ve chanted before, a couple of times at least, at the end of yoga sessions at some of the more eastern-philosophy yoga schools I’ve attended. They’ve always been very short experiences, made more comfortable due to the preceding yoga workout and its mellow effects. During chant time I’d lightly sing along, enough to be included with the group, but not loud enough for anyone to notice.
You don’t need a good singing voice for chanting mind you, and it’s certainly not about performance quality, rather wholehearted participation is the main criteria, but let’s just say I try and avoid using my voice for anything other than talking. I was cast as the voice-over guy in my grade school musical and there was a reason I wasn’t singing.
So, I find myself sitting on the floor of a yoga studio on a Wednesday night in anticipation of my first Kirtan session. The musicians sit down, David Stringer the lead singer…err…chanter starts talking about chanting, a projector fires up with some decidedly yogic words lighting up the wall above the musicians, and the chant begins.
The leader begins by chanting the words, which are very simple, usually two to four words repeated over again in basic sequences. Then the audience (including the other musicians) chants the words and then back to the leader, then to the rest of us again, and back to the leader, and so on.
The whole processes is driven by the music and the leader, with the pace increasing, different inflections and melodies help make it interesting, but essentially you are chanting the same words over and over again.
And yes, I had to chant.
The crowd, clearly, was not adverse to chanting. This was a group of people who, besides a few men who looked way out of their comfort zone, were there to chant, and chant they did.
At first I began cautiously, singing along and assimilating the experience. I started to get more comfortable and relax into it. After saying the same phrases over and over again for a good 20 minutes I started to wonder when it would end. I craved new words to chant, and even with the changes of pace and the pleasant voice of David, I was getting bored.
Thankfully the first “song” ended and we moved on to new chants, interspersed with spiritual wisdom that you can only get from the yogi universe (I lap this stuff up), dispersed by David, our chanting leader.
David is clearly a fellow who passionately experiences the Kirtan session. Just watching his face during the chanting was uplifting and I felt his love for what he was doing and our participation with him. It helped that the guy has a great voice too.
The night continued enjoyably enough, but then something amazing happened. We started a chant that had a little magic in it.
I don’t know how to describe it other than to say that this particular chant had transitions, which were beautifully orchestrated by the musicians and David, akin to a hook in your favorite song. It was addictive, energizing to the point of euphoria, leading one lady to stand up and just start dancing around the room.
By this time I had fully embraced the chant and I was having a wonderful experience. Although I’m pretty sure I mispronounced the words, the beat, the group voice, the rhythm and flow – and this was a chant of literally two lines of three different words rearranged in different sequences – was powerful.
Being In The Music
I mentioned the idea of the Flow-State in my previous article on the Inner Game. To be in flow-state is to be completely lost in your present activity. You lose track of time, your mind becomes fully immersed in what you are doing and you no longer think of the past or the future. Engagement is complete.
Since publishing that article I’ve had people tell me they experience the flow during all kinds of experiences, from driving cars fast, to playing sports, writing, reading, painting and playing music.
Upon reflection after my Kirtan session, I realized, because I was fully engaged with the chant I was attempting to sing and as I was carried along by the music and my fellow chanters, I was present in the moment for large chunks of the evening. Boredom, as I initially felt during the first chant, disappeared completely. I was in the now.
Unlike passively observing musicians or singers, or listening to music on your own, where your attention tends to waver, because I had to participate in the chant, I became extremely present. Music is powerful, and even when you are just listening to something you love you can experience amazing moments, but as a person who has never sung, it was incredible to experience what it’s like to be part of the music and not just the listener.
Being In The Now
If you’re a student of Eckhart Tolle’s work on presence and being in the now, and thanks to Oprah, half the female population in America should be (if you like Eckhart’s work, definitely check out the ten part New Earth series he did with Oprah, it’s free), then you can no doubt see the influence of his ideas on what I’ve written about my chanting experience.
Last week (as I write this article) I attended a two-hour seminar presented by Eckhart. The auditorium was full of at least 2,000 people in my hometown of Brisbane, who had come to hear him speak.
I’m not the type of person to hero worship. I don’t identify with Eckhart as some kind of saint, however I sure was interested to see and listen to him talk in the flesh, if for nothing more than to experience what it is like to be in the presence of someone who is self realized to the level he is, and enhance my awareness of the message he teaches.
I see Eckhart Tolle as a conduit for raising awareness of some very powerful ideas and concepts, and ultimately the practice of being in the now without thought. You have to be careful not to attach yourself to these ideas or the person delivering them (that’s the last thing Eckhart would suggest). Experience them, ask yourself whether it resonates with you and take on board what is helpful. For me, his message of the now and looking for the “space between thoughts” has been a great curiosity, so I continue to study what he teaches.
Where Does Creativity Come From?
Rumor has it that Eckhart doesn’t have a prepared presentation when he does these seminars. He sits down, starts talking, and then two hours later stops. I believe that, because during the presentation Eckhart stated that he was acting as a listener to what he was saying as well, since he didn’t know what was coming next.
I’m capable of doing the same style of presenting when talking about Internet marketing and the subjects of this blog. I have an idea of what I want to talk about, but the specific words I say are just as new to me when I say them as they are new to the audience listening in. This style of teaching is very much in the now and of course fits very nicely with the whole idea of what Eckhart teaches.
Presence delivers the most powerful message. Anyone who’s tried to be creative while multi-tasking will be able to back me up on that statement. You can’t write a blog post while checking your email, cooking lunch and listening to a podcast. You need to focus, be in the now, and let the words flow from you without distraction.
As for where exactly creativity comes from, I’m still not convinced whether it’s the collective experience of the conscious mind pulling on past events to deliver the creative output, or some kind of universal energy that simply uses the human as the conduit, as per the Eckhart Tolle presentations.
I’m inclined to believe it’s both – we use our collective knowledge and experience to help deliver a message, but some things we just “know” and understand without being conscious of where the idea came from (a universal truth). You can see proof of this whenever you listen to a spiritual leader teach, or anyone for that matter, and you just know what he or she is saying is right, yet you have no physical grounds to base it on. That “knowing” has to come from somewhere.
If I’ve totally confused you with this talk of where creativity comes from, then you need to watch this short video from author Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED presentation. She discusses where “Genius” comes from, and speculates on the idea that it’s not the person that is the genius, but some kind of external energy separate from the body, that fuels creative output.
The Past As A Roadblock
Being present has always proved beneficial to me. Truth be told, there is nothing but the present moment of course, but our mind is a great database, so we find it easy to pull up data from our previous experiences and refer back to it with our thoughts.
The past can be a place of loss, looking at what we once had and no longer have (youth, beauty, someone we loved, something we loved, an experience we can’t have anymore, etc). That sense of loss causes sadness, it places an attachment on something that no longer exists and as a result creates a stress point in our lives. This is an inevitable outcome if you exist in what used to be and compare it to what is. Ultimately that’s a choice we make based purely on how we think and view the world.
We all refer to the “past” every day, and unfortunately it’s the source of much of our limiting beliefs. As I wrote in the article – How To Find The Courage To Change By Raising Your Awareness – if you base everything you are trying to do now on what you have achieved previously, then you’re stuck. In order to move forward you have to believe it’s possible, regardless of your lack of previous results, and then take the actions to make it happen.
Eben Pagan introduced a great idea in his Wake Up Productive course, what he calls “inevitability thinking”. The basic premise is that because of the framework you build in your life to create the conditions right to meet your goals, it’s inevitable that it will happen. You are so aligned with what you are working towards, that it feels like a forgone conclusion for you, and when your mind believes this, half the battle is already won. It’s a nice self-fulfilling belief structure, aided by your efforts to change the external reality you exist in every day to support your goals.
The great thing about Eben’s strategy is that it forces you to focus on what matters now. You work on creating the foundation for what you want without referring to the past for anything but good ideas. You draw on your strengths developed previously in order to go to work building new strengths. Through the use of rituals, improved thought processes and following what has worked for others, you can achieve what you set your mind to, regardless of where you are coming from.
The past can be a place of regrets, of belief structures and conditioning that holds you back. It can also be a place of strength, of resilience and power, depending on how you look at it.
What About The Future?
In my life, most of my suffering has come about because of looking at what I want in the future and seeing the lack of it in my present and my past. I assess what I don’t have now and what I can’t do now, see what I want, and then feel despair at the incongruity and frustration at my inability to make what I want happen now.
As business people we are always planning what comes next. That can be healthy and effective, when you look at it from the mind of what you have to do now and what little achievements you can enjoy immediately that take you closer to the big goal.
Unfortunately, especially after some time spent working towards a goal without feeling much progress towards it, what you want to be can become a source of agitation and suffering. There’s a fine line between using goals as motivation compared to attaching yourself to something you want so badly that you suffer when it is not there.
Framing Your World
Ultimately much of the discussion of the past and the future is about how you frame your present. We can choose how we perceive reality and call upon whatever we want to think and believe at any time. Looking to what we might loose from the past or what we might miss out on in the future, is a sure fire way to create suffering.
You can use what you have been through in your past as the strength to make the future great. You can look at the future as something exciting and derive much positive motivation from it. However, most of the time we are fooling ourselves because we live in the present reality. Our mind can use the past and future as anchors or propellers, depending on how we decide to view the world, but reality will always “be” the same.
The Past and Future Are Distractions
In my experience, most thoughts of the future and the past tend to create distractions that can be either pleasant or painful.
If my goal is to actually do something, to create something or experience something, then I benefit from being in the now. Any thoughts outside of what I am doing in the present diminish my ability to enjoy the moment, and hinder my ability to perform.
If I want to hit the perfect backhand down the line winning shot in tennis, then I need to be completely in the moment of that shot. If I want to enjoy a new experience like chanting, I can’t be thinking about how silly I might look, or what my friends might think, or that I’m not a “good” chanter. If I want to write a great blog post I need to focus on what I’m writing and let the words flow and not worry about whether my blog will ever make money, or that some other person has written an article on the same subject that I’m writing about.
Most mental concerns about the past and the future are completely moot points, especially when you are clear about what you are doing right now. Of course you have to plan for the future and it’s helpful to learn from the past, but there is a time and a place for doing that, and in most cases it’s not right now when you are engaged in another activity.
The Key To Being Your Best Self
If you really want to excel at something you need to find your passion and then become completely one with it when it is time to perform. Your best creative output will come from moments of superior clarity and absolute presence with what you are doing. Presence enhances purpose and with purpose comes greater focus.
Eckhart tell us that presence can permeate all moments, whether it’s simply the act of bringing a glass of water to our mouths to drink, or driving the car to get some groceries. This, for the average human being, is a challenging concept to adopt completely.
If drinking water in the now seems a little silly to you, or seeking a state of permanent presence is daunting, you can start where it makes the most sense. When engaged in important activities for your business, especially activities that rely on your creative process, create an environment that allows you to completely immerse yourself in the task.
Once you have eliminated physical distractions, the next step is to become aware of your mind as a distraction. With this awareness you gain the power to control your state. It can be a battle at times, as the mind loves to jump around from thought to thought, but once you become aware of this, you have the power to stop it. From there you will be able to enter flow-state on a regular basis, your creative output will improve, and you can produce more in less time.
Why I’m A Successful Blogger
There’s a reason why this blog you are reading now is a success. You may have noticed that many of my articles are long, especially the pillar articles that teach something. Some of them are over 4,000 words in length, and for me publishing a 3,000+ word blog post is not uncommon.
I can write these blog posts in a matter of hours, roughly one hour for 1,000 words. Before I became a blogger, the idea of writing 3,000 words in just a few hours would have been very foreign to me, now I do it nearly every week.
How can I do this? Because I enter flow-state and focus my presence on the article I’m writing. I can’t tell you where the words come from exactly, certainly I draw upon experiences I’ve had (just as I did with the start of this post talking about my chanting experience), but when I’m in the moment writing an article, it just flows. It’s not always smooth of course, but for much of the time the words come effortlessly.
I’m not saying long articles are the key to a blog’s success, but being able to consistently deliver powerful ideas using blog posts, is the foundation of this blog success. I’ve been able to do this because every week I sit down, enter flow-state and create something with words. I enjoy the experience – I crave it – it’s a very “present” activity for me, and hence I’ve been able to keep doing it week after week now for four years.
When you find something that you enjoy, that you can easily enter flow-state when doing it and you want to do it every week, then you’ve found one of the secrets to leading a successful – and more importantly – a fulfilling life.
Open Your Mind
You must let go of any current mental structures that limit your ability to completely experience something or you can never truly know what is real for you.
If you read an article like this and scoff at the idea of “being present” as some kind of new age mumbo-jumbo, then you’ve just proven yourself right simply because you failed to open your mind to the possibility. Unfortunately as a result, you suffer, because you’re trapped in the reality you have created for yourself that you refuse to change, and eventually it will cause you pain. It’s nice to prove yourself right, but who wants to be right when you are right about something that can cause you suffering and limits your potential for growth and development.
Being completely open to ideas, to fully experience something as a means to test how it can impact your life, is the key for growth as a human being. If you shut down because what you face contradicts what your past framework is built on, then you’re in trouble, because it’s going to keep happening. Presence has the wonderful benefit of flexibility, so when something enters your world, you can choose to absorb it, reject it or take parts of it, always growing with the experience, having added to your existence as a human being on this planet.
When you can foster your creativity with present purpose, eliminate the stress that comes with focusing on the future and what you don’t have, and destroy limiting beliefs that exist purely because of your past, you are free. Presence is the source of productivity, it is where the best ideas come from, your most powerful moments arise and ultimately, where you can find the most peace.
Yaro Starak
Present
Subscribe to Entrepreneurs-Journey.com
Free with subscription
"How To Start An Internet Business
& Make Your First $1000 Onine"
Forward to Friend
Email a copy of this article to a friend
Loading ...
Yaro, it’s great to read about you having these experiences. I see the business connection, because this is something I experience every day when I teach computer classes, work with blog consulting clients, or do teleseminars. I do find it happening more often when I write or create blog content in other media. It’s pretty cool. Being in a state like this is how you know you’re on the right path for yourself.
Yaro, this was a truly lovely post. I have been following your blog for about six months, and soon will graduate from the Blog Mastermind course, which I have greatly enjoyed and from which I have learned a tremendous amount. Lately I have seen a change in the tone of your posts, you have become more openly meditative and have been thinking and talking about the creative process, being in the now, being present, all things that anyone who produces content on a regular basis thinks about. I found Elizabeth Gilbert’s talk moving and relevant. As a person deeply interested in stories, I also find that the stories you tell of your personal experiences, and the way you tie them into the lessons you have learned and in turn pass on to your readers make your recent posts all the more enjoyable. Thank you, for everything.
For me, the fewer “details” that I have to recall from moment to moment, the more likely I am to be able to enter that “flow” that we are talking about here. The details act as inhibitors/distractors for me as I try to work through a creative process, so I look for every possible way to reduce those negatives.
Hi Yaro,
Well written post!
This is certainly not unusual. I myself has been meditating regularly following Silva Method. Its not something spiritual like religion, but its a way to connect to ourselves.
Maybe to achieve a Zen and peaceful state.
I am glad you are writing about this. Why not you write a couple more articles about this? Its enlightening.
Best Regards
Tony
Hey Yaro. For the past couple of months, every single article you post has a high relevance to what I am currently experimenting as a blogger. This one was no different.
Wish I had known about the Wake Up Productive back when it was being promoted, but I think I wouldn’t have enjoyed its benefits back then.
And now, back to work. Nice reading the article, but I have a business to build
Cheers,
Diogo
In other words, let everyday be a new day!
Jon
http://WoodMarvels.com – Create Unique Memories
This was a great read yaro. You always manage to write interesting an motivating articles.
Great to hear about your experiences with chanting, seems like a common experience to at first get a little bored and then suddenly… it hits you.
I felt the same when I did it the first time in about 1995 I think.
I was fortunate enough to see Kim Eng (Eckhart’s partner) for a couple of nights last year. Which was extraordinary… being fully present does clear out a lot of clutter.
Also, the link you made between presence and flexibility is a great one to bring up.. and very relevant to any entrepreneur. Being able to process everything properly without getting overwhelmed, overworked and overstressed.
Good stuff, write more along these lines!
A great book that also talks about this is “On Writing” by Stephen King. He talks about his “muse” and how to make sure that muse comes. Interesting read, not just for the writing help but also because it’s part autobiography.
Wim
Hi Yaro,
We live the here and now. Remembering and planning occur here and now. Making ourselves miserable by remembering or anticipating bad things happen in the here and now. All our thinking, feeling, sensing and doing happen in the here and now. We distract ourselves in the here and now too – why would we want to experience something unpleasant, we would rather take the option of numbness.
If you want to exclude some parts of reality (I recommend excluding things like being hit by cars and eating poison) it is useful to know why we do this. We sometimes exclude things that could be great for us – and it is possible to know why.
Reading (and writing) this post relies on mental structures (all that spelling and grammar). When we are present with our writing these structures become meaningful. Even a phrase like “not even the rain has such small hands” can have meaning (though this takes a gifted poet – e.e.cummings in this case).
Flow state and control are interesting experiences. My experience is that the choices I make in this state have a sense of inevitability and yet it is a dynamic and choice filled place.
Thanks for a well written post on a very important topic. I’d better stop even though I would love to say more, or I’ll end up making a comment longer than the post!
Yaro,
Both Tolle and Csikszentmihalyi (the architect of Flow Psychology) have amazing viewpoints on what it means to live in the “now”, many of which you masterfully touch on in this post. As you mention, flow is possible only when we are immersed in what we are doing at the present moment – the now. Similarly, presence contributes significantly to productivity for you as a blogger, and for others in their respective professions. Your opening paragraph is very true – there are very powerful lessons in the words you have written here. Your readers would be wise to study and apply such lessons.
Hi Yaro, I truly admire you as a blogger and you are my inspiration to be a better blogger myself. I have been blogging for some time but I become serious in blogging this year. Your pillar articles help me to shape mine as well, thanks for that. Now, I can’t wait for your latest posts.
Awesome article, very interesting to read
The tangled roots of anxiety are built by dwelling on the past and worrying about the future.
Being present is like a mini-meditation, a moment briefly quiets that chattering “monkey mind.” Even if you’re “just” present for drinking a glass of water.
Also, you probably already know this, but there are many messages and stories that resonate with humans all across different cultures. Joseph Campbell tracked the connections and power of myth and archetypes. After all, we’re all on our own “hero’s journey.”
Wow! What a post!! Starting from an innocuous experience of yogic chanting you end up with a fantastic development post. If it can work for you, it should for all of us if we sincerely follow all that you talk about here. Very interesting and unusual post.
This post is very inspirational. I have always worried about my future regardless of what I do in life. I think of what I want in the future, and as a pessimist, that future will never come true. I compare my ideal future with my past and present time on a daily basis. I never put 100% focus on what I do in life whether it is studying for test or working on my blog. I get too distracted with cellphone text and television. Thanks for writing a great article!
Great Post.
Business is not just an exterior reaction, it has everything to do with what/how we think.
Jim Rohn said “Its all about your philosophy.”
Hi Yaro,
Love the post. I never failed to read your post weeks after weeks especially this type of contents related to self help and motivation. In a time like this we need every help we could get in order to stand up and move forward again.
You have a good point of living the present and not too worry of the future or taking too much of past histories into accounts could limit our self belief and restrict us from moving further. But a good awareness of a negative future could also help us to do our best at our present. For example if I do not start saving now, I may go into troubles during my retirement years. It is not exactly living in the future but a small reminder or awareness to ourselves that something must be done right now.
I like the idea of trying the impossible, like setting up targets and goals that many feel almost impossible to achieve. When we achieved those goals, that is when we know we have lived to our best efforts.
Cheers
andru
Hmmm, that is a good concept living in the present and not worry about the past or future. But I guess I just I am not as enlightned as you are because I can let go of the past but sometime the future is tougher for me to let go of. The worry of what am I and the people around me going to be doing a day, week, month, year, century, or etc from now sometimes just stresses me out. Granted I don’t always worry about that sort of stuff but lately I have been because I am getting so close to graduating from college, I have a job but with todays economy I don’t know how long it will last. Also most “.com” companies can be successful (which we are now) but for how long is determine by planning for the future and staying on top of the market. Also you must look in the past to see what has been successful and what has not.
Living in the present is a good thing to do but sometimes you have to look back and forward to move on.
Yaro, another great post. I’ve got that problem where my desire for future success turns from motivation to despair sometimes. I have to agree with you for the most part of this post that people really do need to ignore the past and look at the future as just motivation, but it’s sometimes extremely difficult to put yourself into the present in each and every simple task. I liked your point about that people sometimes feel in the now when they’re driving fast or writing. Basically when someone is having an adrenaline rush, which does sometimes come from feeling a creative wave pass through them, it’s a fantastic feeling. TED Talks are amazing, I advised it to my readers a few posts ago. Thank again.
Robby.
I once received the advice, “Worry about the things you can control, not the things you can’t”
It seems simple enough, but it’s harder to implement than you might imagine.
I agree 100% with this article and your ‘just for today’ ideas. I wrote a similar article yesterday called ‘Fear of Success’ where I share similar ideas about people fearing success. It’s the truth. If you want to be successful today you must live in the moment and do everything you can NOW in order to succeed. There’s no yesterday or tomorrow in the business world. They’re basically made up realities that people get stuck in. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow doesn’t exist. All we have is today!
I see you are becoming more in tune with your spirituality
Hello Yaro,
Great post, I especially found it useful where you stated: “To be in flow-state is to be completely lost in your present activity. You lose track of time, your mind becomes fully immersed in what you are doing and you no longer think of the past or the future. Engagement is complete.” I meditate everyday and have been doing it for over nine years. Everything you say ring true to me, as I immerse myself fully in all I do. Time loses all that it is, and become unimportant, and the now prevails. After all, time is nothing but another concept created by man.
Thanks for another interesting and motivational article. Thanks for it!
I am so enjoying reading your blog posts and this one is no exception. Would have loved to have seen Eckhart. I am in Canberra and unfortunately he didn’t make it here and I couldn’t make the trip to Sydney. I will have to be content with his books and videos.
The video with Elizabeth Gilbert was very inspirational and I encourage anyone who skipped this to go back and watch it. I felt like giving her an ovation at the end just like everyone else in the audience. She is a great speaker and a pleasure to listen to.
Thanks for the great article, Yaro; I enjoyed it.
I had the opportunity to hear Tolle when he was in my city and it was an incredible experience. He was completely ‘on’ but in a subtle way and the room of 2000+ people was full of energy. Really extraordinary.
Thank you for the Gilbert video. When I started watching it, I thought I wouldn’t watch the whole thing but after what I thought was 2 minutes it turned out to be 17! Needless to say, I was quite absorbed in her talk.
Hello Yoro
In today’s environment, it’s easier to remain attached to a conforting zone. which is namely the past. The underlining reason for that is most often fear. Change is feared. The memory is filled with data of yesturday. Tomorrow promises to no one. However, the past and tomorrow unite to form the present or today.
Hi Yaro
Another great post. Your style is always informative and I to like others like your More “conscious” style of writing. The video from Elizabeth Gilbert has come just at the best time for me. The insight about showing up to do my side of the erquation really resonated with me.
Bravo olay olay Yaro
Best Wishes
Denise
I think everyone has creativity .. but not all people take advantage of her/his creativity..
Very long post but i enjoy this, Yaro..
I think this post is VERY relevant to business, blogging or whatever! The techniques you have so thoroughly explained are of great benefit whether you are creating a blog post or writing a novel! I echo the opinion of some other commenters here when I say I’d love to see other articles along these lines! Thanks!
Yaro, after having just finished fighting with a disobedient fax machine, this was just the thing I needed to read! Thanks a lot.
When I personal really want to bring some vital change and to get enter into a new era than an individual should look forward to integrate towards his future.
Understanding what a flow state is and knowing where to find it has been critical to helping me reach my goals.
Since learning this concept I have been able to accomplish a variety of important goals in my own life including: completing my degree, recording 3 albums, becoming a runner and blogging every morning.
I give credit to flow state and learning to accept failure and setbacks as one in the same with success.
Thanks for the article Yaro!
Whether you think you can or can’t either way you are right.
I believe that is a quote from Henry Ford and it ties in real well to your article.
Thanks for sharing,
Matt
Yaro,
Quite a few of your comments about operating in the “present” (letting the constraints of the past and future be separate from your experience) clearly resonate with me. As I’ve noted before, the past and future are beyond the realm of human influence – the present is the only moment in which we can exercise any degree of control.
That said, I have to say I’m not quite sure about Elizabeth Gilbert’s theory. The idea of being directed/inspired/validated by an “external” influence doesn’t set well with me – I’m more comfortable with believing that the real “god” that propels you to success is the one that resides between your ears. But that’s just a minor niggle, and perhaps largely a matter of perspective – I realize that quite a few people might find Ms. Gilbet’s theory a comfortable addition to their existing spirituality.
All in all, a wonderful post – I’m glad to see that you’re comfortable with exploring this side of blogging, business, and spirituality. Well done!
Lee
yes , Its good to hear that you are doing yoga and kirtan sessions fro peace . and the title you selected is very meaningful .One should stop thinking of future and put the efforts on today
I hate audience participation. And chanting is the worst version of it. I don’t know there’s just something about it that makes me uneasy… Maybe it’s the fact that I’m affraid that I’ll get into the whole thing too much and everyone will shut up and I’ll still be chanting..
All I can say is WOW! You really write so well, Yaro! Thanks for sharing this treasure with us, this has just made my week! This deserves a StumbleUpon review!
To successfully harness all of our resources and make progress despite the current challenges, it is essential we effectively ‘abandon yesterday’. By this I mean we must let go of the assumption that we can plan the future as though it were just another episode of yesterday. Because what worked for us yesterday will not work for us today – much less tomorrow.
I have just read your post and I find it useful. I hope I can be a better blogger after this. Yes, I can say that you (Yaro) is another superblogger beside John Chow, Joel Comm and other dot com moguls scattered around the world.
This should belong to some motivational talks man. But I like the saying, let it go and you will see success today.
Mindset and mentality have so much to do with success. I read over this before but somehow missed the TED video. Outstanding, thanks for sharing and I look forward to reading more.
Matt
Wow. That is the best post I’ve read in a long time. Everything in it rings so true. Thanks!
Yes you are right having a positive frame of mind will have a positive outcome.
Kudos to your success Yaro!
To be honest… I too am not fond of “singing” I can talk fine… but when I have to use my voice in an uncomfortable situation like shouting, etc, I avoid it, hehe.
On focusing… you are definitely right…. I have a dual monitor setup on my computer… my main screen in front of me… and my second monitor adjacent to it on the right hand side. So… I will often from time to time put on a tv show.. or perhaps a movie… but I really find that it takes away from my work… I have a hard time trying to concentrate on my words… So yes, I definitely agree that you have to focus on the task at hand with out distractions.
Till then,
Jean
Absolutely excellent post. The mindset is everthing. When you change the way you look at something, the thing you are looking at changes.
Living in the here and now is great. But very hard to do for anyone in this day and age.
Chanting wow. Haha I can understand how you were feeling, I don’t like to sing either… I feel that there is no need to make a fool out of myself ( or to publicly display my lack of singing prowess). Wow though it seems like the last chant was really amazing. It sounds like you really got into the chanting. You really were in flow state with the chanting. Its easy to see how you became so. Doing something uplifting in a group can be really powerful stuff. I can definitely back you up on the errors of multitasking,. Its been said that someone who is stoned will be able to produce more than a multitasker. I agree its important to not dwell on the past. I think its really difficult to not worry about the future though. Its just because I know that everything I do is for my future…
-Randy
Hi Yaro. I found this post in your personal most favorite post. I like the philosophy and I agree with your insight. This will also be my most fave post in your blog. It’s relaxing to read.
I read a message today that said the only way to enjoy today is to stop worrying about the future. I am trying to do that by learning about how to take care of my future with learning from you Yaro. thanks for the good articles here.
Hi Yaro!
I have met many of the great minds of history via my extensive liberal arts education. One of the common denominators in the lives of these intellectual giants is mediation. Even the athesist minds spent regular amounts of time in mediative activities, proving that the activity is more important than whatever spiritual flavoring you choose to apply to it. But many of the great thinkers of history had times of what appeared outwardly to be “bumish” lives; Socrates is a fine example. He hung out with a bunch of youngsters chatting all the time. (as well as regularly gorging, drinking, and the other Greek-style stuff).
Debra
Great and very inspiring article. That is true. Past is a distraction adn future is also a killer distraction. In other words – focus is a key to success.