Why Worry?

Tolstoy’s insight that love can only exist in the present moment serves as a potent reminder to focus on the here and now. By avoiding dwelling on the past or worrying about the future, we can conserve our energy and direct it towards what is immediately in front of us.

As Tolstoy suggests, the key is to make the most of what we have. Whether overwhelmed or underwhelmed, there is plenty on our plate in the present moment.

Focusing on what we have, regardless of its scale or significance, allows us to engage with our current situation.

Do the very best you can right now. Refrain from thinking about what detractors may say. Don’t dwell or complicate.

Be here. Be all you.

“If you wish to improve,” Epictetus once said, “be content to appear clueless or stupid in extraneous matters.”

The important stuff will still be important when you get to it. The unimportant will have made its insignificance obvious (or disappeared). There is ego in trying to appear the most informed person in the room, the one with all the gossip, who knows everything happening in everyone’s life.

The key to a good walk is to be mindful. Stay present and open to the experience. Put your phone and life’s pressing problems away, or let them melt away as you move.