be rather than think

Tags

future, in the now, mindful living, miscellaneous, past, present, psychology, quotes, random, thoughts

As I was walking into town yesterday to see a a preview of the film called “Now is Good” my mind started thinking about what that actually meant. While I pondered terms like now, past and future I found my mind skipping backwards and forwards but rarely staying just put.

Living in the moment is something we humans find quite hard to do, we are always looking behind us at the past and what it holds or toward the future and what it may hopefully bring. The odd thing is though, that we only really have control of what is happening right now, we can’t change the past nor can we predict the future, but we can influence what we hold in our hands today.

That said being mindful, living in the now, is so hard to do because we are constantly bombarded with information telling us; who we should be, what we should do and who we should be with. If it’s not doing that the world is asking us about who we were, where we came from and why we do what we do.

So what can we do to stop chasing shadows from the past or trying to catch fireflies of the future?  That is a  very tricky question to answer, but the first step is to just look around you and see what it is you are actually doing. See if it makes you happy, is it good for you and what can you change today. The paradox about doing this is that you can only make it work if you get out of your head and be rather than think.

As I live in my head, have it furnished and fitted out for all my needs, and tend to get lost in the corridors of my mind, dwelling out dusty thoughts of things gone by or steep forever in pools of dreams of things I’d love to be, I often find it hard to clamber down the ladder of my thoughts and take hold of my hand of action.

But in those moments when I succeed to be right here, right now I always discover what a good place it is to be.  I feel less stressed, more happy and content, I often experience joy, can breath and somehow worries melt away, changing form a mountain into molehills. It doesn’t mean that all the problems that orbit around my life disappear but it does meant I see them one at a time and in more manageable portions.

So with today still beginning I will be mindful of myself and what is happening around me, take  a new look at all things I on my to-do list and just take each one a tick at a time.

In today’s rush we all think too much – seek too much – want too much – and forget about the joy of just being.

Eckhart Tolle

the now of my windowsill

PS: just remembered a great talk about time I had with my friend visiting from Memphis … so this post is especially for her! I hope she likes it 🙂