Torpedo Your Fantasies!
"Why”, you say, “should I get rid of my fantasies? I have spent many idle hours embellishing them.” Then you add with a sorrowful glance to the ground, “Besides, they’re all I have these days.”
AAh, if that were only true. But alas, we humans are much more powerful than we’d like to admit, and with a little clarity on this subject, we might be motivated to get off our fantasy float forever and become a lot more productive… and happier.
Fantasies are about the future. They are made-up scenarios that make us feel good, or so we think. In reality, fantasies medicate us from showing up in real time. They keep us from taking stock of what is in our 'now'.
“But wait!”, you say. “I did show up in my ‘now’. And it stinks. And that’s exactly why I am building plenty of fantasies.”
It is true that for many of us, the present we find ourselves in is not exactly what we desire. But if we linger long enough, we will also discover the next step that is actualizable for us in this 'now'. This step is golden and well worth giving up your fantasies for, because it will lead you out of “what stinks” onto the path that will take you to your heart’s desires. If you spend your time fantasizing about the future, you will never be around in the now to see the real steps that are possible--and even necessary--for you right now.
Spotted Eagle, a spirit guide, likes to say, “We’re always at the airport when our ship comes in.” You can trust that the universe is bringing in your ship every moment, but are you here to see it? If we can discipline ourselves to ditch the airplane ride to fantasy island and keep ourselves in real time, one moment at a time, we will find we no longer have the need for fantasies.
But first, we need to understand the present moment. The present moment is like a mosaic, and in that mosaic there is always pain. Even in the best of times there is a little pain in some corner of the present, because the human journey is painful. That’s just the way it is… and that’s OK. We have to un-decide the decision and our conditioning that says that pain is bad. It’s not. So be prepared for pain, and learn to be OK with it. If you’ve been medicating for a long time, like most people in America, there will probably be a lot of pain waiting for you, and heartache.
“Oh, great!” you say. “Who needs this? Why show up? I'd rather keep medicating with my fantasies."
The obvious answer is because the present is real, and your fantasies are not. The present may be difficult, but if you give yourself the courage to stay, you will feel a good, solid feeling that your fantasies will never give you. Life is a feeling experience, and you can only feel in the now. The present is real, and 'real' is where the rubber meets the road. What happens when you show up in the present and feel the pain? What do you do? You grieve. As long as you show up, it will just happen, so let it. Some of us have 10, 20, 30 or more years’ worth of grieving to do. So we grieve... finally. But make sure you do it cleanly--no shame, no blame, no guilt--just grieve at what is lost.
Then there is another type of pain that we will find in the present that doesn’t need to be grieved. This type of pain calls out to us, “Look at me!” When we put our attention on this type of pain it will show us what we need to do. It will show us what is missing in our lives, or what needs to be removed or changed in our lives. It calls out to us to take action, and it shows us the action we must take. This is good stuff. You won’t find anything this powerful in your fantasies. Remember, pain is OK. There’s nothing wrong with it. It points us in the right direction when we’ve run off the track. We don’t need to freak out or run from it or medicate it anymore.
You will be happy to note when you arrive that the present contains many other things besides pain. It contains all the aspects of your life at that given moment… the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between. It also contains essence. There is always essence in the present that we can attention. Even in the midst of pain we can experience beauty, harmony and peace, sometimes just by looking at a tree or a flower. There’s room for everything in the present moment, so open your heart wide and allow all that is there to be there.
When we stop resisting what we find in our now, we can be sure that there will always be choices staring back at us. Sometimes, the choice is just to wait, to be patient, to do nothing and keep observing. In the present we can take stock of where we are at; we can take stock of our gifts and talents (yes, we all have them), the resources we have and what is available and open to us right now that we can use as stepping stones and building blocks to the essences our hearts most desire. The present shows us what is possible right now, not 3 days from now or 6 months from now, or if that happens or if this happens (that is fantasizing again, also known as speculating), but what is actualizable at this time.
The fact is, the present is a very healthy place to be. There’s no place like it. The present is where it’s at… it’s where the action is... the only place where the action is. It is powerful far beyond our human understanding. The present offers the continual alchemy between what is and our unmanifested possibilities. Our potential is always waiting for us in every now moment. The present contains the continual fire of creating, of what is becoming, and we get to feed that fire... if we show up. More often than not, creating happens one very small step at a time, because that's all we can take in any one moment. Every step is significant; every step creates.
In the now moment we can feel what there is to feel, observe what there is to observe, and attention the essences that we want more of. We can start the process of bringing what is possible, our potential, into manifestation. We can begin living in the only place where we really can live – in the now. So torpedo your fantasies, have courage, and take the time to show up!