“Stop longing. You poison today’s ease, reaching always for tomorrow.” — Robin Hobb
Do you know what day it is? Is it Tuesday? Saturday? Or is it just another day when the sun rose early this morning and will set later this evening?
Do you know that keeping track of the days can create stress in your life?
I rarely have more than two days in a row away from my paying job. A job where I am responsible for a lot of planning. Planning for today, tomorrow, next week, next month and beyond. But recently, I had the opportunity to string three days away from work along with a weekend to give me five days in a row at home. I had a lot of enjoyable projects to work on at home and by the fourth day I realized that I had lost track of the date and the day. I hadn’t needed to plan on what I was going to do for the next few days.
Because no long term planning was required, I found myself waking each morning, focusing only on what I wanted to do for the next few hours.
What a pleasant feeling. I had no concerns about what would happen if I didn’t do this by a certain time or if I didn’t get to this, that would happen.
At days end, there were no should of, could of, or would of to haunt my thoughts. And, a bonus to this was that the day seemed to be longer. Much more was accomplished with a lot less stress.
The little bit of time that I DID keep track of came from me watching the sun. Long before man invented time pieces, he tracked his time of day by the sun. What worked for ancient man, worked for me. And it worked quite nicely, thank you very much.
I’ve experienced this present moment feeling before. And, it always amazes me. The simple act of not thinking. Not thinking about what day it is can have such a positive effect on your present activity. “Not thinking” about the future relieves stressing out about tomorrow’s activities. The “not thinking” allows you to be in the moment with what you are doing so much more than when you have plans and dates running in the back of your mind.
So, the next time that you have a few days to yourself, forget about time! Live in the present day and don’t be concerned about which day it is. Try to not remember if it is Tuesday or Saturday.
When you forget today, it is easier to not think about tomorrow. Take a few days to forget time.
Do you know what day it is? If your answer is no, then…………………. Congratulations! You are one step closer to living in the moment.
Namaste,
Dave
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons