My friend K got stuck, for an extra week, on the east coast due to the storm around the holidays. She spent a couple days at the airport hoping to fly standby. The rest of the time was spent inside her in-laws' home.
I get a little crazy when I'm away from home too long. I want to sleep in my bed, cook my own meals and enjoy my routine in my surroundings.
"I would have lost my mind," I told K.
"What saved me is that I'm really good at living in the moment," she said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I don't get all wrapped up in what I'm missing or could be doing or should be doing. I can just focus on what I'm doing at that exact moment and be okay. If I didn't have that ability, I'd have been in trouble," she said.
I realized I'm not very good at living in the moment. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I should be doing. Sometimes, I torture myself about what I could have or should have done in the past.
I'm going to think of K when that happens and try to focus on the here and now.
What about you? How good are you at living in the moment?
xoxo,
Suzanne
About Me
- Suzanne Casamento
- Author of Fingerprints, Choosing Tally, and All the Moments in Between. Tweet me @suzannecasamento
I suck at living in the moment! I'm like you. I think about what I should be doing, I worry a lot, and I always think of things I should say or should have said.
ReplyDeleteHave a few kids. You'll get better at it. ; )
ReplyDeleteI'm terrible at it. That's one of my goals for 2011--to not get agitated waiting in line, to show more patience by not always thinking about what else I need to be doing. I do yoga on DVDs and, after gazillions of times, I still find myself needing the reminder to be in the moment, right here and now. I think I'd actually be more productive if I wasn't wasting time in fretting. I could be doing character watches or thinking of story ideas while waiting.
ReplyDeleteI am getting better at living in the moment, but it is always a challenge. I applaud K for managing it so well.... a week is a LONG time to be in someone else's space, especially family!
ReplyDeleteABsolutely I need to get better at that. Maybe that can be my New Years Resolution!
ReplyDeleteI used to be stuck in the past all the time, ruminating on what I did, should have done, regret doing, etc. Before we moved to our present home I threw out a ton of stuff: old yearbooks from high school and college, old pictures, old clothes from grandmothers and grandfathers I had never seen.
ReplyDeleteIt freed me to live in the present.
HOWEVER, there are often times I wish I had some of those old pictures back!
It's definitely an area I could improve in.
ReplyDeleteIt depends on the moment I am in. Sometimes I am good at it, other times not so much. I have been working for the past couple of years on arranging my life so I don't have things hanging over my head to worry about. Makes living in the moment much easier!
ReplyDeletetm
Not really.
ReplyDeleteI work on it moment by moment! Of course, times/situations pop up that send the mind wondering and racing. It takes a lot of strength, faith, and trust to just accept everything exactly as it is in the moment and not try to control the future or rehash the past. Practice, practice, practice.
ReplyDeleteSince becoming a mom I'm much better at living in the moment. Although there are parts of my past that pepper today, I no longer stress about work projects or what my week ahead will look like. It's just not important to me anymore. The here & now with my kid is what matters most.
ReplyDelete