You have four billion sense receptors firing at all times, that’s a lot of information to choose from. Isn’t it great that we don’t have to choose consciously? Yet we can choose by attending to the now.
I usually try to resist jumping to the future. I feel that I’m always putting the brakes on our cultural rush that believes we can somehow be in the future now if we hurry. We are often so inundated with future events that when the time comes we are annoyed or already bored with the great thing that was to be. All the while we are planning ahead the now holds a gift; the gift of being without planning, anticipating or worrying.
If you take a moment to notice how it feels to sit here looking at this screen, what can you notice?
Identify three sensations……..…………………………………. (mine are: pressure in my right heel, teeth biting my lip and the over full belly from my hot beverage.)
Choose one and direct your breath into it (at least 5 full breaths). (Go ahead, just reading this won’t do it.)
Now notice if there is anything you would like different; like an impulse to sit differently, or rearrange your immediate space or stretch or put on a sweater. The possibilities are endless but very specific to you right NOW. Just a few moments of focusing your attention on your sensory experience can both bring you into the present and prepare you for the future, this future, the one that is unfolding through you now.
