[2021-02-01] Living in the moment
Today, I found myself asking, "How do I live in the moment?"
In the past few days, I've let my mind dwell on the future much more than I would like. Cancer does that to me. It beckons me to focus on all the what-ifs.
As a result, I'm not enjoying each day as much as I could be.
As I was pondering my dilemma this afternoon, a friend sent me this pertinent quote from Maya Angelou:
This is a wonderful day. I've never seen this one before.
I love the curiosity that this statement brings to mind. It's a celebration of newness, possibilities, discovery. But mostly it's a celebration of today. It reminds me of one of my favourite passages from A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh:
"What day is it?" asked Pooh.
"It’s today," squeaked Piglet.
"My favorite day," said Pooh.
Also today, another friend sent me a bunch of photos, some that go back more than 25 years. "How did we survive?" she asked me. I replied:
We survived by living day by day. Same way we're going to survive today. One day at a time.
I think I needed to hear that as much as I needed to say it.
In fact, much of what I write here, though it may sound like guidance to others, is really advice to myself. It brings to mind what Ralph Waldo Emerson said:
It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
I've always found that there's nothing like helping someone else to get me out of my head and into my heart, and out of the future and into the present. This calls to mind George Bernard Shaw's view of life:
I'm of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. Life is no "brief candle" to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
I don't know that I've ever been especially good at living in the present. I worry about past mistakes and fret over future challenges. But now, more than ever, I need to live for today, because tomorrow is not guaranteed.
Oprah Winfrey captured this sentiment well when she said:
Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.
Fear about the future is what pulls my attention towards tomorrow. The best way I know to concentrate on today is to focus on something outside myself. This quote by Ambrose Redmoon is helpful:
Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.
That "something else" that is more important to me than my fear is my family and friends. I love Leo Christopher's line:
There's only one thing more precious than our time and that's who we spend it on.
So that will be my focus: spending my time engaging with and supporting others, including through this blog.
I started this post by quoting the incredible Maya Angelou. It's fitting that I would finish it with another passage from her:
We spend precious hours fearing the inevitable. It would be wise to use that time adoring our families, cherishing our friends and living our lives.
When I start to fear the future, I will gently bring myself back to the present by saying:
Today I will adore my family, cherish my friends and be a light in the world.
If you have tips for how you live in the moment or a favourite quote about focusing on today, I would love to receive them.
