Someone told me recently that guilt lives in the past and worry inhabits the future. I experienced such an epiphany when I realized that neither of those could exist in the present moment, the only place I am truly alive anyway. After so many years of bouncing back and forth between worry and guilt, I realized I needed to retrain my mind to stay present in order to give myself the gift of living in this moment.
"-the last breath is gone, the next one hasn't come yet - it is always a matter of this one...It keeps us in the present moment." ~J. Kabat-Zinn
Much of life can seem mundane. The routine can feel stifling, especially when looked at all laid out in front of me early in the morning. (Although that's leaving the present moment and worrying myself into the future, isn't it?)
It was late a few nights ago, nearly ten and I had whiled away my alone hours poking around the internet, texting with friends, listening to a podcast. The dirty dishes still sat in the sink, wet laundry awaited my attention in the washer, and I had promised myself I'd oil my wooden utensils after putting it off for too many months. All I really wanted to do was curl up in bed and read. Waking up to a dirty kitchen and sour laundry are two things I pretty much refuse to do. I didn't want to spend the last moments of my day feeling frustrated and angry about finishing my chores though, so I lit a candle, chose some quiet music, and filled a bowl with warm water and clementine-scented bubbles. I created a little bliss in my kitchen, enticing myself to inhabit that present moment.
Rooting myself in the moment is a work in progress for me. I'll admit it's not always easy, but it made those mundane daily chores enjoyable. I woke up the next morning still feeling the contentedness of simply being present.
1 comment:
Maybe this is where the saying "Don't sweat the small stuff" comes from. The older I get, the easier that saying is applied to my life. My new saying is "It is what it is" -
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