One of the most common spiritual teachings across traditions (whether we’re talking ancient religions or modern-day mystics) is this: Be in the present moment.
And there’s a reason it’s repeated so often. Because if you miss this, you’ll keep chasing something that isn’t real.
What I call the promised land of tomorrow doesn’t actually exist.
Not because you can’t achieve your goals or manifest the life you want, but because the moment you get “there,” you’ll move the goalposts.
So when you tell yourself that your peace, your satisfaction, your joy, or your sense of wholeness will arrive once something else happens…
…once you get the job,
…once you finish the degree,
…once you fall in love,
…or get divorced,
…or buy the house,
…or heal the wound,
you will find that the moment that “thing” arrives, you’ll already be looking toward the next thing.
That’s the trap.
The trap is called the human condition.
And we’re not here to escape it.
We’re here to see it clearly. To live it fully. And to embrace it.
Because one of the biggest tricks to disrupting that trap is realizing this:
The promised land is not out there. It’s right here.
Not someday. Not “when you’re ready.” Now.
You don’t need to be more prepared.
You don’t need to be more healed.
You don’t need to have your shit together.
You don’t need to wait for the clouds to part and the light to come through.
All of that is noise and distraction.
If you don’t have access to what you’re yearning for now—not the car, not the house, not the thing, but the feeling underneath it—you won’t suddenly have it when the conditions change.
From the Charge of the Goddess:
“And you who seek to know Me, know that the seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the Mystery: for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am That which is attained at the end of desire.”
Damn! That which is attained at the end of desire. Imma go sit with that one this week. I invite you to do the same.
So we can stop outsourcing our arrival.
Stop waiting to become worthy of what’s already ours.
And start seeking the thing we long for here, now, within.
Photo by 愚木混株 cdd20 on Unsplash