Future dreams are simply glorious. Unburdened by reality, they float
effortlessly like a balloon on a string, beckoning us to chase and capture it. Our naïveté
and optimism push us toward that future despite all the unknowns.
At some point in the process of heading toward that dreamy
future, our reality has to become unburdened by dreams. We are forced into the present, into the hard
work of implementation. Inevitably, we discover
that the future we previously envisioned, “isn’t what it used to be”. In the process, we discover something
else. The only real future is the present
moment.
I am a serial dreamer. It is not easy to acknowledge that
all there is, is the now which I inhabit. It's not an easy truth to swallow in a future-gorging
world. Irrespective of our sphere of
leadership, we are obsessed with promoting what and how we will make our world
better. We are, as Napoleon said, ‘dealers
in hope’. I happen to think Napoleon
was right; however, I also believe there is something about our future we must
let go.
In his book “Barking to the Choir”, Fr. Gregory Boyle of
Homeboy Industries makes a profound statement about our preferred futures:
Paradise (or a preferred future) is not a place that awaits our arrival, but a present we arrive at. A place, in fact, we are already in. (pg. 75)
Fr. Boyle goes on to reflect that we need to let go of the
desire to expect anything beyond the here and now, because the awareness of the
‘now’ keeps us from the suffering generated by resisting what is. If we as leaders focus only on what is to come,
we lose something by failing to stop and notice the now. We lose moments with people, we miss seeing
beauty, pain, or even ideas that exist in that place of now. Perhaps we even miss God passing by. We lose something of
ourselves because we failed to enter in to the present and experience what that moment has for us.
This ‘now’ perspective isn’t about abandoning effort to
build a better world or widget or whatever you are in to. It is about exercising an approach to life
that acknowledges that this moment, the one in which you are standing, is the
only one available to you.
The future isn’t what it used to be. Pay attention to what
is. Now.
