It’s easy isn’t it? To get busy. To rush around. To get things done. To go on autopilot. I know – it happens to me sometimes (a lot!). So therefore, I can ask: of the twenty four hours available to you yesterday, how many were you Actually Present for?
Sometimes we need to stop
So sleep probably took up nearly a third of your day and work the same again. Hopefully your work allows you to check in with life and really ‘see’ how it looks through your eyes. But often it doesn’t – those working hours ‘belong to someone else’ and we don’t get much time for noticing Life in all it’s beauty. What often happens instead is that we move through the day; in our head and in our thoughts from the moment the alarm wakes us up until we fall back into bed again later that evening; an incessant chatter about what’s still to be done and how much time there isn’t to do it!
I wonder – did you get a chance to stop and check how your body was doing during the day? Or was it only when pain struck- a headache or aching shoulders – that you were reminded of it’s existence? Did you get a chance to notice beauty around you at any stage? A morning sky, a simple bloom, the rustle of leaves as you walked on the path or the rosy red berries in the hedgerow as you cycled by.
Look closely at the little droplets and nature’s patterns
Or maybe it was your pet that brought you down out of your head and into your body when you walked through the door at night? Or perhaps it was the piece of music that made you want to boogie on the evening commute? Or the hug from a child delighted to see you back home? Each of these simple, ordinary moments have the potential to bring us down out of our head and back into our body; to where the magic happens and where Life is experienced.
Or could it be your upcoming plans to climb that mountain or to beat that run target that gives you the feeling of conviction deep inside? You know the one – the stirrings of possibility and hope. The one that reminds us we’re alive – turning up fully present for the journey.
If your yesterday (and today so far) was spent squashed in your head rather than present in your body, that’s okay. It happens to us all at times. Don’t waste time in regret. Just make sure that NOW you’re Here – in your life, in your body – where the good stuff happens.
Or Sing, Or Dance, Or Skip a beat.
Life is precious. Make sure you notice it.
People (that means You) are amazing.
Live a life that makes your heart sing. Xx