Future-Tripping

Dearest Readers,

Today's post might be a bit of a meditation practice in itself. To breathe, to be here now, with each word as I type it. I'm buzzing with anticipation for the day ahead, which involves shooting a segment of video for the show I'm presently creating. I need to slow down my thinking.

Blog entries about the practice of being present in my life come often, don't they? They can never come often enough. It is a daily practice. Actually, it's a moment-to-moment practice because the mind is always moving forward and the remembering must be constant.

That's almost what being present is: remembering. "The power of now" and "being here now" and "living in the moment" are ideals. When I teach yoga I say, "The nature of the mind is to think." The mind thinks, that's what it does. In order to step back from the thinking mind I must remember to return to the experience of now.

So that is what I've been doing since I woke up. My mind is future-tripping big time to the arrival of the videographer, to our drive out of town, to the shoot, to the drive back, and on and on. I'm living out the day in my head and forgetting where I am.

And so I must engage in the active effort to remember that I am not there yet, I am here. I must return to this moment, the only one there is. This is certainly challenging because it feels like I have to do it every single second but the practice is worth the reward. For I am then in my life, the only one I really have, the one that is unfolding here and now in reality.

Inspiring Message of the Day: The life that plays out in my head is a fantasy. It is not real. I will continue, throughout the day, to actively remember to be in my real life as it unfolds in the present moment. I will step out of the thinking mind and experience the now.