It will get better when…

I find my soulmate.

I lose 10 pounds.

I have more money.

I get famous.

There is peace on Earth.

Poverty is eradicated.

I recover from _______________.

Hope has its place. All progress is based in some sense that things will improve in the future, if something is corrected now.

At the same time, there is no end to the project of progress. It spins like a Ferris wheel, never reaching a final destination.

Some of us, after enough go arounds, get hip to this and realize, “We’re moving but not going anywhere,” and become appropriately frustrated.

It takes a keen eye to catch because the drama of progress can be so all-consuming, so seductive and entertaining, we never pull back from it — even over the course of a life, or lives.

Abiding peace and fulfillment is not found in the future. Unfortunately, we have to learn that the hard way by watching our precious dreams and aspirations become subject to the Law of Impermanence, which means watching them come, stay for awhile, and go — over and over again.

Understanding we can’t count on the future and the filling in of “missing” people, places, and things to improve our welfare, our orientation and awareness moves toward the present moment.

We start looking for a way to transcend the Law of Impermanence by asking, “What is permanent?”

For this answer, you must close your eyes, sit quietly, and watch your breath.

Being in this world but not of it means being yourself without attachment to the outcomes you are working toward.

(But only if you want to lessen the struggle in your life.)