Learning To Be Here Right Now

I continue to try to focus on only a few key tasks for the year ahead. Daily. And it’s hard to maintain sometimes. There’s always something pulling me off the path, and sometimes it’s my obsession over trivial things that end up doing so. I’m dedicated to finding the right balance. On days like today, when I feel like I might not have been as focused as I could have on work or on my ‘focal point’ of personal priorities, I need to keep my perspective.

Finding the right balance is not an all-or-nothing activity. It involves give and take. I am including daily meditation, stretching and walking into my daily routines, and listening to or reading only things that inspire and motivate me. Yet, sometimes, I just need a quiet drive into work, or I have to take an evening to tackle a backlog of tasks that are becoming distractions that need resolution or release.

One of the recurring themes in all of my efforts is to “be here now.” To be fully present in every moment. Not thinking about the past or future, but being in the ‘now.’ Even with the mundane tasks, like a post office run, laundry, dishes, or organizing my priorities for the workday ahead. It can all be so much more rewarding than just ending the day wondering where the time went.

One key lesson I’m working on this month is instilling the subconscious weighing of the value of anything I am doing. Looking at each action and really considering, “What is this really getting me?”.

I have to let go of some of my habitual obsessions and focus on further reducing and eliminating all the ‘busy work’ that is often of my own making and of little real, lasting value.

"When your overwhelming life becomes too much
Take another breath and you will see
Here now, spend a minute next to me
Slow down, take the time to let it be
I wanna show you there's no place better than
Here right now"

- The Bangles