Overcoming Busy

Living In The Moment

July 8, 2011 by Marci

Today, I am starting a new Friday feature called “Living In The Moment”. My hope is that this will encourage you and I to slow down or even stop and pause our busy lives and live. Live the moment. Take in what we are hearing, seeing, smelling, touching, tasting, feeling inside and out. This is what experiencing life really is.

Each Friday, I’ll post about an experience I’ve had through the week when I have really stopped to live in the moment. I’ll invite you to tell me about your living in the moment experience also in the comments or by link up.

Let me know what you think!

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I love to eat meals outside. Breakfast, lunch and dinner if I have the chance. The fresh air. The breeze. The sun. The birds chirping. The neighbor’s dog barking. Kids at play. These are all so calming to me. They clear my mind. The to-do list, the cell phone, the laundry seem so far away.

There are days when I shove food in my mouth as I am feeding the kids and then I’m off to the next project. Those are the days when I think I have so much to do and so little time. Yet, those are some of my most unproductive.

Then, there are days when I take my meal outside on the patio. I don’t surf the net while eating. I don’t talk on the phone or read. I just enjoy my lunch, the sights and sounds. Yesterday, the sun felt so good on my bare arms and legs – not too hot, just right. There was a slight, warm breeze that brought the damp, woodsy smell of the forest into the yard. The kids and I chatted, then they were off to play when they finished their lunches.

I stayed in my patio chair still enjoying my sun tea and carrot sticks. As I sat there, I noticed young robins hopping under the trees at the edge of the yard. Their breast still speckled, not yet turned red. So fresh from the nest, they looked up for their mama instead of searching for food on their own. Mama Robin didn’t let them down. She landed close by, expertly pecked the ground, cocked her head and then pecked the ground again. This time she came up with a juicy worm. Perfect for a robin’s lunch. A young robin just sat still, yellow beak wide open until Mama plopped the tasty treat inside its mouth.

I thought of how our children try and leave the nest, the protection of their parents, but they still need us. They still want us. We need to give them wings, but we need to show them how to survive before we totally let them go. My thoughts drift thinking of my role as a mama.

After a while, I go back inside refreshed and more productive. And by more productive, I mean that I might not get my to-do list conquered, but I get the important stuff accomplished. And, that makes for a great rest of the day.

Take the time this week to live in the moment. Notice things you usually breeze right by. Think about ideas and subjects you haven’t made time for, but would love to.