I once had a client who worried herself sick every evening until her teenage child had returned home. As evening grew dark she started to create stories in her head about her child’s car having broken down. The imaginary scenes became darker and more sinister until after several hours she could only see the horror of her child in a bloody car accident or as the victim of a car jacking. Once these images were clearly in her mind she began praying fervently that God would spare the life of her child. Night after night this woman lived the agony that relatively few parents ever go through despite the fact that her child was safe, productive and happy, just elsewhere.

Simone Weil, poet and activist in the 1940’s wrote, “Deal only with those difficulties which actually confront you.” The overwhelming majority of moments that make up our day are simply perfect. We are perfectly comfortable, perfectly safe, perfectly well fed, and we are perfectly surrounded by beauty, love and creative possibilities. Look at the moment you are in right now–sitting in safety with spare time to read–this perfect moment. It doesn’t matter that in an hour you will see a doctor to get the results of your biopsy. Nor does it matter that you are waiting to learn if your mega deal has gone through. This moment….this one right here…is sublimely perfect!

Dale Carnegie, author of How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, coined the phrase “live in daytight compartments”. He likened our lives to submarine safety routines. Sailors are trained to tighten down the waterproof hatches between compartments so that a breach of water in one area would not overwhelm the whole vessel. He encouraged his readers to close off this day from the past and the future and live firmly in today.

Close off this moment from those that will come and allow the future to take care of itself. Trust that when you eventually get there you will use your faculties to cope with whatever will befall you…or maybe you won’t. But do NOT allow the future to ruin THIS perfect moment.

Illustration from The Well of Being by Jean Pierre Weill