Sometimes it seems like my wife and I take turns driving each other nuts. We have vastly divergent philosophies; she worries about everything and I worry about almost nothing. I tell her it's an ideal situation because between the two of us we have just the right amount of anxiety.

It is not so much that I don't 'worry' - I do. Everyone does. But I've noticed that most of us spend far too much energy worrying about things over which we have no control. Like my grandfather used to say, "If worry will make a difference, worry away. Otherwise, don't bother."

Worry is like an acid which eats away at whatever happiness we may have. Back in the day, when I was younger and in the service, I was stationed in Japan. While traveling around the country I ran across a Japanese monk who, by the way, spoke better English than I did. We got to talking about religion, enlightenment, and other stuff and I started pissing and moaning about the possibility of getting shipped out to Vietnam. I was in a 'woe is me' mood and made no effort to hide it.

He listened for a while and then asked me, "are you happy right now?"

"Of course I'm not happy - look at all the things that could go wrong." I responded while thinking to myself, 'this guy didn't hear a word I said'.

He then asked a simple question, "If you are not happy here and now, when and where will you ever be happy?"

His point was that none of us can live in the past and the future has not yet happened. The only moment each of us have is right here and right now - everything else is an illusion.

He told me that the only enlightenment we'll find at the top of the mountain is the enlightenment we bring with us and the only happiness we'll find in the moment is the happiness we already have.

It took awhile for his message to sink in. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.

I'll be the first to admit that some moments are better than others. There are times when I think to myself, 'if I ever live my life over again I'll hit fast-forward when I get to this part'.

Every moment has a value and a lesson all of its own. Every moment teaches us something about ourselves and our place in creation. Every moment provides part of the answer to the universal question. But sometimes we need to rephrase our questions to get meaningful answers.

Instead of asking if the glass is half full or half empty it might be better to simply ask, “is the glass twice as large as it needs to be?”

Search the Observer