Be here now

[saltyseedog]

You don't have to have anything, you don't have to do anything, and you don't have to be anything, except exactly what you are being right now. You think about things you believe you need to do in the future, it makes you feel worried, stressed. Write down the things you plan to do. The mind is no place for serious thinking. By wanting to have something you automatically feel unfulfilled because you don't have it. People often feel that have to prove things to other people. This is most likely motivated out of ego. You're wrong and I'm right, that makes me better. People feel that have to BE something, in order for other people to love them. Maybe not even that but just to be accepted or to feel that you are better than someone else or at least not worse than them. You are already fulfilled here now. You may be unhappy unloved. You may be loved and happy. You cannot know one without the other.

[Arra]

What you're saying sounds very similar to the teachings of a spiritual group I went to in Costa Rica for 5 months. Their primary belief is that "you are only love." They talk about the 'ego' a lot, and define it as basically anything about you that wants or values anything that isn't 'love', and they weren't talking about romantic love, more of a spiritual type of love. They believe that every 'upset' you have can be broken down info a few beliefs about yourself, such as, that you don't deserve to be loved, that you're stupid, that you're weak, etc. There are really only 5 or 6. And that all of these beliefs can be further broken down into one: a desire to be separate. Now, I think there's an advantage to stepping back once in a while from life, when you're extremely stressed about something you don't need to be, and using the psychological part of this to remind yourself that there is nothing you really have to worry about, that you're creating the worry yourself and choosing it. In many ways, that way of thinking is beneficial. But, if you're to go as far as the place I went did with it, you end up thinking that positive feelings like romance are bad, because they involve a separateness between the couple and the rest of the world. My problem was, I realized that the psychological part felt very true. So I very gradually started believing in the spiritual part. I value things like romance, the goodness that can come from a tragic story, the character built from suffering, etc. Anyway, in summary, I think that what you say can be applied positively at times, to a certain extent, to center oneself. But only because it's true that we often find ourselves worrying a lot over things we don't need to. I don't believe in any spiritual aspects of it. But, taking it too far, you could end up a characterless person who is always feeling great, but missing out on the beauty of life that can only be experienced through some suffering.

[saltyseedog]

Love everyone here now. Life is an opportunity to love. The attachment comes in, when in the present you are unhappy and unloved, so you are constantly thinking about the past in which you were happier that doesn't exist right now and that makes you sad. Like if you broke up with your boyfriend or girlfriend or someone died, and you don't have them anymore. You basically have three choices if you are unhappy with the situation- you can accept it, you can change it, or you can leave it. an example is you broke up with your boyfriend and you are unhappy- you can accept it (accept being unhappy) change it (try to get back together with them) or leave it (kill yourself)

[Drokens]

There are things that are challenging that are worth working towards. You shouldn't stress about them, but I do think that's important to have some sort of goal in mind. I always feel like I want to be improving myself.

[StonedApe]

There are things that are challenging that are worth working towards. You shouldn't stress about them, but I do think that's important to have some sort of goal in mind. I always feel like I want to be improving myself. Very true, the important thing is not to obsess about the end, to focus on the current step. If you feel thoughts pulling you toward the end away from what you are doing take a step back and look at what you can do right now to improve, to get closer to the goal. If there is nothing you can do let it go for a moment and do what you can do right now to create the best possible reality.