The Waiting Trap: Why ‘One Day’ Is Keeping You Stuck

The above is an excerpt from a famous Taoist phrase which summarises the idea that we as human beings on this planet are always going through one of two things:

We are moving toward our essence, or we are moving away from our essence.

Here is what this has to do with Jing, and with recovery.

In simple terms

In other words: when we have strong Jing we can cultivate the deeper essence and levels of life, and move towards states of health, vitality and harmony.

But if we have weak Jing, we cannot cultivate the essence of life. We are stuck in the lower levels of reality because there is no basis for us to connect to anything beyond our immediate surroundings.

Freedom, or containment

When our Jing is strong we feel a sense of freedom in our life, and can create situations in which we level up our capability to interact with life, our environment and other people.

When our Jing is weak we feel contained. We do not have the capacity to move beyond the chains that hold us down — in life, in our health, and in our surrounding situations.

One path is ruled by acknowledging we are mortal and we will soon die. As a result of this we realise we must do everything in our power to live now, to cultivate, and to make the best life possible.

The other path is ruled by living in a constant state of trying to “hold on” — moving through the days and years in a daze, in the hope that one day our energy will be strong enough to get to where we want to be.

Herein lies the trap

There is this moment — now.

And then there is the future — that will never come.

What keeps us in this place of thinking we can walk around in “maintenance mode” — just getting by until one day we will have enough energy, and be in a place where we can implement the changes that will change our life — is itself derived from Jing in the body being in a weak state.

Lots of people think that there is no hope to life, that they will always be confined to their situations. There is no way out or up. But the truth is there are always situations where life is calling us to level up and change our lives. Most people do not recognise it because they place more value on their outer circumstances than their inner circumstances — not realising that levelling up the inner circumstances (Jing) is the one sure, definable factor that will change their life.

And yes, you guessed it: valuing changing those external circumstances more (besides keeping you trapped) will also, day by day, weaken your Jing further — and continue to amp up the cycle of the original problem.

A way through

The solution, the only one that’s really backed by reality, is to give ourselves as much focus as we possibly can and channel our effort into this moment right now, so our Jing can activate.

Once Jing begins to fill, we can then move into now and away from later. Because the future state, the one we hope we’re moving towards, and that we believe will heal us in due time, is actually the thing keeping us stuck, in stasis, and is paradoxically the cause of our problems.

There are two worlds, two lives everyone can live.

Jing is the mediator for these states.

Once you build it, it is what allows you to make that choice — and to have the backup to support your decision.

Jing cannot be built by waiting for the right moment in the future that never arrives.

It comes from backing yourself now, in this moment here.

Because why would you want to wait for that future you’ve been holding on for anyway?

The real you doesn’t need an excuse, or to wait to come out.

It is already there. You are already there. You just need to unlock it.