live in the moment

Nothing you haven’t heard of, but I hope reading them will inspire me in this goal:

- The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

- A Year to Live: How to Live This Year As If It Were Your Last by Stephen Levine

... not sure where I learned it, but you are supposed to simply repeat to yourself what you are doing. To still and focus your mind and eliminate extraneous thoughts.

“Washing the dishes… washing the dishes… washing the dishes…”

“Walking… walking… walking…”

I just tried it and I liked it. Maybe a more concerted campaign would be good.

Sometimes I am so busy thinking about what I planned to do next that I don’t even notice the moment. A few nights ago we ate dinner on the back porch, and immediately afterwards I wanted to start clearing the plates and move on… but he was sitting in my way. “Are you in a hurry to go?” he asked. “Well, weren’t we going to watch that movie?” I replied. “But it’s so nice out here, I thought we could just enjoy it for a minute,” he said. Just sitting on the porch for 5 minutes is a real challenge for me.

... and not to accomplish some distant future goal? Something’s out of balance here. Maybe I’m coming down from my weekend high and having a little post-Mayday-parade blues, but yesterday I looked around my messy room, at all the dirty laundry and unbalanced checkbook receipts… and I wondered what I’m living for! My purpose in life is not just to Get Stuff Done!

So last night I walked away from the laundry and the checkbook and the messy room… and laid in my lovely sleeping nook and read my book, with the window open to listen to the thunderstorm outside, and my beautiful lava lamp to soothe me.