Review

We are constantly haunted by a suppressed dissatisfaction with our own arrangement of our daily life; the primal cause of that inconvenient dissatisfaction is the feeling that we are every day leaving undone something which we would like to do, and which we are indeed always hoping to do when we have ”more time”. The truth is that we will never have “more time”. We have to chase the moment.

Time will never increase as we wish, also in the meanwhile it will not disappear because of our wasting. And the chief beauty about the constant supply of time is that we can not waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for us, as perfect, as unspoilt, as if we had never wasted or misapplied a single moment. We can turn over a new leaf every hour if we choose.

The most important preliminary to arranging one’s life so that one may live fully and comfortably within one’s daily budget of twenty-four hours is the calm realization of the extreme difficulty of it, of the sacrifices and the endless effort which it demands. In the premise of efforts, we should be content with quite a little. We should allow for accidents; allow for human nature, especially our own. Most people who are ruined are ruined by attempting too much. A failure or so will not matter in itself if it does not incur a loss of self-esteem or self-confidence.

The exercise of concentrating the mind is a mere preliminary. The first business of the day should be to put the mind through its paces. True life is impossible without the power to dictate to the brain its task and to ensure obedience. When our mind skips away from what we are concentrating our mind on under our eyes, we should bring it back. By the regular practice of concentration we can tyrannize over our mind every hour of the day in no matter what place. There is no secret save perseverance—keep it up and we will succeed.

We should pay attention to some dangers as well. Avoid becoming a prig. Treat a programme with deference but avoid being tied to a it like a slave to a chariot. Avoid developing a policy of rush, of being gradually more and more obsessed by what to do next. Most chiefly, avoid the risk of a failure at the commencement of the enterprise which may easily kill outright the newborn impulse towards a complete vitality.

Be aware of what we are going to do and obey our schedule flexibly. Concentrate our mind and seize the moment for a full day.

2020-07-04

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