Rest in the Moment

Dearest Readers,

I was saying to a friend the other day that the time between my birthday in September to Christmas in December always goes by at lightening speed. It feels like the fastest time of the year.

This is silly. Time doesn't move any faster during certain months any more than it moves slower during others. It just seems this way. What makes it seem this way I do not know.

What I do know is that I'm buying into it and it's making me a little crazy. I feel the days zooming by and my head is often in Christmas, and then January and then February...

It is a constant practice to bring myself back into my body and into my life as it is happening right now. When I am on track spiritually I'm good about remembering to do this myself. When I am not, it usually takes something happening like a slip-and-fall accident or biting my tongue when I'm eating to bring me back.

Since I like to avoid those two-by-four-over-the-head moments as much as possible I do my best to nurture my spiritual condition each day so I can stay here.

Some of you may know that I'm working on a project for the Olympics. There is a "countdown" happening, you may have seen/heard it, and it is especially prevalent in Vancouver. When I was there recently I kept seeing electronic signs and little headlines in newspapers saying, "So-and-so number of days left!"

Someone said they'd now reached the 100 day mark and then what felt like 2 days later I heard on the radio "88 more days." I don't know which is right and I'm not going to find out. I do not want to know, thank you very much! I'm working on one day at a time here, if you don't mind!

What is this obsession we have with living in the future?

I have a theory. If we are present in our lives we have to feel our feelings. We have to connect to the truth of our reality, which is that we are going to die one day. So the temptation is to get out of the present and go somewhere else: tomorrow, the weekend, Christmas, the first day of the Olympics, next summer. Just not here.

A stretch? I don't think so. I know that if I rest in the moment, be here now, I have to feel my fear. And I'd rather not do that so away I go. But if I come back, if I breathe into my heart, if I let go of all time but the present, I am living.

Inspiring Message of the Day: My goal today is to practice returning to the here and now. This is where my life is! I can rest here knowing that the days ahead will come. Until then, I'm going to celebrate the now.