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June 19th

STAY FOCUSED ON THE PRESENT

“Don’t let your reflection on the whole sweep of life crush you.

Don’t fill your mind with all the bad things that might still happen.

Stay focused on the present situation and ask yourself why it’s so

unbearable and can’t be survived.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 8.36

hen you look back at some of the most impressive, even scary, things
that you’ve done or endured, how were they possible? How were
you able to see past the danger or the poor odds? As Marcus described, you
were too busy with the details to let the whole sweep of the situation crush
you. In fact, you probably didn’t even think about it at the time.
A character in Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Lullaby says, “The trick to
forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close up.” Sometimes
grasping the big picture is important, and the Stoics have helped us with
that before. A lot of times, though, it’s counterproductive and
overwhelming to be thinking of everything that lies ahead. So by focusing
exclusively on the present, we’re able to avoid or remove those intimidating
or negative thoughts from our frame of view.
A man walking a tightrope tries not to think about how high up he is. An
undefeated team tries not to think about their perfect winning streak. Like
us, they’re better off putting one foot in front of the other and considering
everything else to be extraneous.