Nine years ago. I remember this day like it was yesterday. One of the benefits of practicing presence. When you choose to quit looking in the rearview and quit thinking about tomorrow, you are able to be fully present to your life in the precise moment you are in. Are you paying attention? It's the only moment you can experience true life. This does not come easy; one must commit to an alternative way to live, and it takes resolve to live this way, especially in our world where we have the whole world in our hands. But for those who commit to the practice, will enjoy life as it was intended to be.
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So, the question is, how does one learn to live in the present? Here are a few starters:
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1. Take one day a week completely off, and depending on your line of work, like people who work on the docks, you have to adjust this to your lifestyle. It is a day of no work. Put the phone away.
2. Take all of your personal days and all of your vacation days.
3. Recognize that you are replaceable at work. The universe does not revolve around you. If you passed in your sleep tonight, as hard as it is to imagine, life would keep going for those still here. There are some places, though, where you could not be replaced, and that is with the ones in your life who you love. Why sell your soul to a master who can make you rich but does not care for you and forfeit the beauty of life right under your nose. Don't sell your soul for anything but love.
4. Learn to treat yourself like you would a friend. Extend yourself the same grace that you would a friend. Unless you wouldn't extend grace to a friend. Then you're just a shitty friend.
5. Leave work at work.
6. Develop a habit of looking for beauty and love wherever you are.
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Just a few ideas to get you started in developing healthy practices that will allow you to actually experience your life.
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Love.