How often do we allow our minds to retreat to the past or leap to the future. If you’re like me….much too often. No matter how much we think about it, we can’t change the past and no amount of worry will change the future. One thing we can be sure of is that if our thoughts are in the past or the future they are not in the only thing we truly have and that is the present. How many times have we driven our car to a familiar place by a familiar route and upon arriving we really can’t remember the drive because our mind was someplace other than the present moment. How many of us go for days, weeks, months, even years with our mind living elsewhere in time. It’s sad…ask some of your friends to tell you about their past year…I’ll bet more often than not what you’ll hear about is their vacation, because that was the only time they allowed themselves to live in the present. In fact think about that vacation of yours. If you’re anything like me and have a week vacation, it takes a couple of days to let go of the recent past….getting everything ready at work and home…are the dogs okay….did I forget anything and on and on. Then with about two days left of the vacation I start to think about what’s waiting for me back at work, back at home. So what started out as a week long vacation is really at best about four days.
You might say “well Bob that’s just normal behavior”. Well if it’s normal, no need to change it….right? How about we change one word here. It’s not normal but rather a habit. And often times it is very much in our best interest to change some of our habits….our smoking habit, our habit of getting angry too quick, our habit of drinking too much, our habit of speaking when we should be listening and most certainly living in the present rather than the past or the future. Remember our habits are something we have control over….we can accept them as they are or we change them….do away with them or change them to new habits. The new habit I want u to begin today is being here…right here…today. This moment is all you really have…do you want it to be a valuable moment to you, to others, to the world or do you want it to pass like a leaf falling from a tree in the forest that is never noticed. The choice is yours and yours alone.
The Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Tich Naht Hanh speaks of “Mindfulness” which is his way of defining living in the present…of being aware of each moment regardless of the task at hand….being present when we eat our meals….aware of only what we are doing when we wash the dishes. Now I know you’re saying “come on Bob…he’s a monk…that’s what they do…that’s not really practical for us”. Tell me why not! Sure you may not become as disciplined as a monk….but tell me why you can’t begin this very moment to change a habit that is robbing you of experiencing every moment of every day of the gift of life.
Begin by finding a moment of beauty in each day….see it, listen to it, feel it and be grateful for the blessing of that moment.