Step #1: When you notice 'they are the problem, or 'that' is standing in your way, stop! Ask yourself who is the problem, what is standing in your way?

Mmmmmm..... Well, I guess there is only that one step! And it starts from beneath [our] feet. When we are serious enough to do the first step honestly enough, our nervous system cant help but start unwinding itself into enlightenment. It has nowhere else to go. In contrast to the 'thrill' of an epiphany (Satori), or the Nirvana ideal, this way is broad, reaching left as well as right. As easy and simple as step #1 sounds, it is a big leap for our biology which evolved to identify external causes for the discomforts and sorrows we feel, and then to seek external solutions.

Each time we have a problem, we can't help but direct out attention outward to the most obvious cause. 'It' is 'them', 'it' is 'that'. That by-path leads us around in circles until death ends that wild goose chase. The 'problem' we feel is actually only a symptom of what we desire. Our expectations are the cause, not an external 'that' or 'them'. Sure, this is easy to see, to understand. So what are we waiting for? Tomorrow? No, seriously, what are we waiting for?

We are always in a hurry to get 'there' and so have no time for 'here'! So, ironically, we are not waiting enough 'here and now', yet we are waiting to resolve things 'there tomorrow'. That's the problem! We are not waiting for 'this', we are waiting for 'that', never realizing 'that' is 'this'. We are rushing into 'tomorrow', 'them' and 'that' to avoid 'now', 'me' and 'this'. Why do we avoid 'now'? 'Now' is empty which feels uncomfortable. Why? Empty correlates with death, failure, weakness. And we are instinctively drawn to the opposite: full, life, success, strength. We can thank biology. Life's survival instinct drives all living things to keep looking out there, not in here. After all we won't find any food to eat in here; it is empty, and yet... Oh, what a grand hoodwink nature has pulled on us! Knowing we are being hoodwinked takes us back to Step #1.