Your present moment - this moment - the one you are in right now - is the intersection between your past and your future. If you let them, your time choices come alive in this moment.
At once profound and mysterious, your present moment is a place of stillness. As you allow yourself to settle in and fully experience the stillness, your moment reveals itself as both an opening and a turning point.
Always, your present moment offers you the potential for deep insight and transformation. But the paradox is that it doesn't work to aggressively mine your moments for meaning.
No, it's with openness and stillness that you need to start. I'm not talking about developing a time management skill or implementing a productivity tool but rather about letting yourself experience an encounter.
That is where you need to start, to truly live the power of your present moment. As Marianne Williamson has written:
The present moment, if you think about it, is the only time there is. No matter what time it is, it is always now.
The past is gone and the future has not yet arrived. You are alone with yourself and a wealth of powerful choices as you pause and let yourself just BE in the present moment.
Last week I wrote about living mindfully in your present moment, and one of the things I noted is that:
Living in your moments, breathing in what they have to offer, you get to know yourself. Your wants, needs, and interests are constantly evolving, and they emerge from your moments if you let them.
I'd like to continue and build on that idea today by picking up on an article from zenhabits titled Savor Discipline: Merge the Interests of Your Future & Present Selves. Here Leo Babauta explores the challenge that being disciplined presents us with in our moments. What do we do - how do we choose - when, essentially, our present and future interests aren't in sync?
The first thing that he does - and I love this - is to frame this as a relational issue. We have our present and our future self in dialogue about whatever choice we're wrestling with.
Next, he removes the self-critical component that so often trips us up and keeps us stuck by suggesting that we treat this conversation as an exchange between two friends.
"Imagine you were going to lunch with your friend, and you had to decide where to eat. You each have different preferences. Choosing one over the other - going to Japanese food (your friend's preference) instead vegan Mexican (yours) - isn't fair. So maybe you pick a third choice that you both like (a place that serves sushi burritos, perhaps). Or maybe you choose this time, and your friend chooses the next time. Either way, both are happy."
You pause, in your present moment, and your present and future self work out a compromise. As soon as you pause, you are introducing an element of mindfulness. This, in and of itself is transformative, no matter what you decide.
And of the options available, Savor Discipline is a path that opens new doors that your present and future self hadn't even known existed. I'll explore this exciting option further in my next post, so stay tuned.
And in the meantime, here's to your time success!
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