Are you ready?

Are you ready?

If that questions creates any anxiety or doubt, then I think you're approaching it all wrong. Of course you are ready. You are always ready.

When you put the key in the ignition, when your foot hits the floor in the morning as you get out of bed, when the curtain rises, you're ready. You're ready because the next moment always comes and you always are in it and the thing happens and you did it. Whatever "it" is, however you manage, you do it.

As my wise friend Emma once counseled me, "Meg, something will happen." She's right, of course. Something will happen. So, "are you ready?" really means are you awake? Are you here? Are you present?

Life keeps coming at us and there are definitely things we can do to manage ourselves in a way that makes us feel some control. We can rehearse our lines. We can exercise our bodies, or keep our car tuned up. We can observe ourselves and others and learn -- learn new behaviors, learn how to listen and really hear, learn how to live a life of our own choosing from watching the ways of wiser family and friends. We can surely prepare for the worst and hope for the best -- that's my friend Ron's mantra. We can surely improve our readiness in many ways.

But that question -- Are you ready? -- that question is designed to provoke anxiety or, maybe, excitement. Either way, I suggest you approach the question and your answer with compassion for yourself in every moment because life is really always right here, right now. Whatever is happening, you are in it. Whether the something that happens is amazingly wonderful, uneventfully normal, or terribly difficult, you will be there for it.

You are ready -- right here, right now.