A friend of mine is something of a compassionate Zen Master disguised as a 2nd grade school teacher. In the same moment that she is holding space for your human frailties, she is slapping you around and yelling, "Get over it." The other day, she taught me something - nothing can hurt you.

We live in two minds - fear and joy. Mostly, we live in fear. That fear is manifested as our everyday anxieties where we find ourselves living in the regret of the past, or grasping at the future.

Joy is manifested in presence -- that point at which we shed the past, let go of the future and are just there, where we are, in that moment.

If, in that moment, you are safe physically and socially, everything else you are feeling is just a trap of mind and the emotions. You are creating your pain, your anxiety, your dis-ease and discomfort because you are going out, instead of staying in. What I mean by that is you are going outside of yourself - projecting -- instead of staying with yourself.

What are doing in this moment? Are you listening? -- do you hear the crickets and the tree frogs, or maybe the early morning traffic noises? Dogs barking? Is your coffee too hot? What are you doing with your hands? your feet? Are you thinking about getting into the shower, or walking the dog as you read these words, or are you fully paying attention? Are sitting up straight?

If you are paying attention to all of this, then you are here, now - not someplace that could potentially hurt you or cause you pain, not in a place that you likely can't even control. So, why go there? Why not stay here where you are safe instead of playing out a fantasy of potentials in your head?

This sounds very black and white, but the honest truth is, we don't project our potential happiness, only our potential unhappiness. We worry about what lies ahead and focus on the ugly - we don't rejoice in the future and focus on the bliss. Instead, we are so often anxious about our anxiety and stressed about our stress. Why this is, I don't know, but it is certainly the nature of the human condition.

So, we get back to control. Our fear, our anxiety, is about a sense that we lack control or we have lost or will lose control. Guess what? You can't control anything. We'd like to think we can, but we can't. We can only do what we are doing in the moment. And joy comes from squeezing that moment for all it's worth.

If you are safe in the moment, then you are safe - nothing can hurt you -- unless you allow it, whatever the It is for you, to seep into your mind and poison the joy of every breath with which you are blessed.