1/13/14

Man in the Mirror PROJECT - Time

Time is always of the essence.  We say things like in time things will come, in due time, next time, some other time, I don't have enough time.  We live in our pasts and look towards our futures, never truly appreciating the time of the present.

Samasthiti - Standing yoga pose
A standing yoga posture will almost always indicate where our thoughts are.  If we are leaning forward we are thinking about what is in our future:  what we will do when we leave, what we have left "undone" and our to do list.  If our posture tends to lean back, our thoughts will most likely be on the past; what someone did to us, said to us, or an experience we had.  Both postures lead us away from the present and into the realm of thinking about things that are no longer in existence in the present moment.

Stand up and place yourself in front of a mirror standing sideways.  Are you leaning forward or leaning backwards?  Where are your thoughts?  Now deliberately place your thoughts into your body and focus on standing completely straight, feet rooted into the earth beneath you.  Feel the crown of your head extend toward the ceiling, roll your shoulders back and drop them, and take a deep breath. Exhale. Notice the change in feeling from when you first positioned yourself in front of the mirror.  You have just freed yourself from your past and future in a matter of moments just by concentrating on the present.

Freeing ourselves from our past or our future worries sometimes only takes our notice of the present moment.  If we learn to re-direct our attention to the present time we can learn that time really doesn't matter, its our thoughts about it that make us tense, angry or worry some.  Today may you take "time" to be "present".  For in the end no one of us knows what the future might hold, we can't change the past and our current time is the only gift we have.  We must not squander it.  For it truly is the only "time" we have.

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