If We Do What We Can Do Today

It made sense at the time.  Really it did.  But I see now that I made a mistake in selling those books.

I like reading manga (it is picture story books, after all, what is not to like!) but it's an expensive hobby and not one that I have time to pursue so I have pretty much given it up.  I only bought one series.  Just one--because it spoke to me, because it taught me so much about human beings and right actions and good intentions and very many other things.  I was months in searching out good used copies online until I finally had all 23 volumes.  And I read the story again and again.  It changed me for the better. 

But a couple of years ago, desperately in need of income, I decided that it was time to let that manga go.  The buyer paid me nearly $300 for it, and I had bought the books individually for much less.  It seemed sensible.

Before I sent the manga away, I got a small stone paper notebook and I wrote down all of the quotations that seemed so important and that had taught me so much.  There are times, in need of sage advice, that I page through that notebook again.....

 

"When I really stop to think about (the future), I don't know what to do or who to talk to.  The anxiety starts to well up and before I know it I start to get sick with worry...

 

If you stay quiet and stifle your feelings, the pressure will just get worse and worse.  When you get anxiety about your future, it's better not to think about it. 

 

For example, let's just say that you are surrounded with a mountain of laundry piled so high around your feet that you can't move.  Now let's assume that you don't have a washing machine, so you have to wash everything individually by hand.  You would be at a loss what to do, right?  You'd worry if you could get it all clean, if you'd ever have time for anything but laundry ever again.  The more you'd think about it, the more anxious you'd get.  But time keeps passing and laundry doesn't wash itself. 

 

So what do you do?  It might be a good idea to start washing the laundry right at your feet.  Of course, it's important to think about what lies ahead, too, but if you only look at what's down the road you'll get tangled up in the laundry at your feet and you'll fall, won't you? 

 

You see, it's also important to think about what you can do now, what you can do today.  And if you keep washing things one at a time, you'll be done before you know it because fortune is looking out for you."***

I miss that manga.  Maybe I'll try to build a set again one day.  But in the meanwhile, I have my little book of quotes.  Simple wisdom.  Food for the soul.

Life is good.


***Quotation from Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya.  No copyright infringement intended.