If I long only to live in Scarborough, then I can’t live happily in Reigate.
An obsession with Scarborough, or perhaps Cardiff, will mean that I struggle to experience Reigate, for much of me isn’t there.
I dream of somewhere else and therefore I am being thwarted. I may drift into depression or anxiety.
But awareness cannot arise in us if we wish our experience to be other than it is. This is so.
If we are prescriptive about what must be, kidnapped by frustration, we lose touch with the present, which is all we ever have.
If we are living in Reigate, but longing to be in Scarborough, we are distracted, which literally means, ‘ripped apart’.
We stop noticing the wayside flower.
Awareness and joy arise in us when we allow ourselves to be where we are, who we are and how we are – with acceptance.
Who knows? One day I may move to Scarborough, or perhaps Cardiff. It could be next month, next year or perhaps never.
All these outcomes are possible. But today, which is all I have, I accept Reigate, which is quite perfect for me now.
