DR. STE​VE M​CSWAIN

“Stop the train…I want to get off!” You’ve heard that voiced before, haven’t you? Maybe you’ve said it yourself. Whenever I hear this, or feel this way myself, I give pause long enough to reorient, precisely because I believe you and I must live fully into the life we have…into the person we are. All this straining, striving, searching, securing… And, for what?

To “stop the train?” Is it because you’re just fed up and want to get off? Or, is it that you want to be more? But then, how could you ever add anything to the perfect creation you are?

What? You don’t think God did well enough to suit your tastes when she created you just as you are right now? You’re always imagining what you’re not. No wonder you can’t rejoice in who you are. But, of course, you cannot see that, can you? Or, can you?

Stop The Train!

All this effort on your part…the seeking…the striving…the securing…the saving…and, again, for what? To HAVE more? Well, go for it, if that’s where you think it is. Struggle and strain to get ahead…to get more. You likely will get it. You’ll end up with lots more.  It’s the “American” way, isn’t it? Yes, yes, just imagine it. You’ll have it. You will have arrived.  You’ll be the envy of them all. You’ll drive a BMW. That’ll show them. Yes, they’ll know then, and so will you, that you’re finally getting the respect you deserve.

Instead of driving around as a depressed soul in the beat up Toyota, now you can drive around as a depressed soul in a fancy BMW. What progress you’ve made. Just look at you. A successful, depressed soul. Doesn’t make much sense, does it? You “dance round in a ring and suppose,” as Robert Frost put it, “but the secret sits in the middle and knows.”

“Where is the secret in the middle?” you ask. Stop looking for it. Stop striving for it. You have it already. You ARE it already. Just sit down. Right now. Right where you are. You’ll see… You’ll know. The secret is… YOU! What more could you ever need?