Looking forward

‘Looking forward’– it’s no bad thing.

In fact, as humans I think we’re probably set up to have some future stuff to be pulled towards. Otherwise goals wouldn’t be a thing, would they?

So I made the decision to cook curry—a new one!—and all of a sudden I’ve noticed, I have a real sense of purpose; of drive.

I’m excited! I know that I’ll be cooking curry in a few days time.

I’m looking forward to it.

There’s a process that will occur. That’s fun, for a start: Planning. Maybe watching old episodes of a Rick Stein TV series, to do some research. Shopping for ingredients.
Maybe my daughter will get involved.
How I’ll cook it, which pan it will go best in; hob, or oven?
Even if it turns out to be rubbish, I’ll still get to go through this process of cooking curry. (It usually turns out great.)
I know I’m stocking back up the freezer, for future effort-free curries.

All these things, just off the top of my head, here and now.

Attaching to an outcome (I’m curious to see if it turns out rubbish, and if so, how can I make it better)?
Doing it all the time so it becomes routine (you can have too much of a ‘good thing’)
Turning it into a ‘how to’ feel good (classic mind).

But there’s something here, isn’t there? About working with the mind and its tendency to ‘look forward.’

It’s like giving the mind a project to tick away with on the back burner, so it’s not engaged in less salubrious activities.

Reminds me of a bit from one of Steve Chandler’s books, where he says:

“People without a project worry a lot. Worry becomes the project. The brain wants to DO SOMETHING. So, without a project, it worries.”

Got me a project.

Curry.

😋

Giles

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