“Give up waiting as a state of mind.” -Eckhart Tolle I see waiting as our mind’s default condition, not just a temporary state of mind we adopt. This narrative, an attempt to feel control over our lives, and a foil to witnessing and accepting our present moment. If our mind is in a state of waiting, we think there must be something worth waiting for on the other side. Something better. Alexei Navalny spent his final years, months, weeks, days, hours, and minutes, in Russian high security prisons, in isolation. He died in his final one. He maintained a positive outlook, however, because he knew his work was righteous and his opponent’s not. Only by not waiting for a better day, did Navalny find his peace in the face of his certain demise. In order to survive, he had let go of waiting. We live under dramatically better circumstances than did Navalny. Our freedom affords us the luxury to accept the hope that waiting for something better, will improve our lives. Until we experience letting go of our tendency to wait, however, we are less peaceful mentally, than, dare I say, was Alexei Navalny. The illusion of that which lies on the other side of waiting, is elusive and expansive. Like hamsters on the wheel, our minds run, filling our tanks with vague notions of something better than our present moment. Learning how to be present is, for sure, a cultivated skill. It requires us to let go of waiting, and as a reward, offers us a tangible source of human inner peace, that of living our present moment.