Last week I had the gift of being on vacation, a whole week off with my family and no schedule whatsoever. The week was fabulous. But it went so incredibly fast that it started me thinking about the nature of time and our relation to it.
Blame on the shortening attention span due to technology and our culture, my personality type, or anything you’d like, but the truth is I think a lot about things that aren’t in front of me. The future of my career, if and when I’ll be married, the next place I’ll live, my bank account, the Phillies, my next meal… you name it!
Planning is good. We all need to think about plans to succeed and not drown in the everyday responsibilities. However, if our thoughts are always elsewhere, we are never really present in our lives.
I won’t always have my current job which I love. I won’t always be only a daughter to my parents. I won’t always live in my cute little apartment (A.K.A. “the treehouse”). Time changes, life evolves, and today won’t look like tomorrow.
These thoughts brought to mind a quote I once read in something Richard Rohr wrote (but he was quoting another, I apologize for not remembering who):
“Wherever you are, be there”
It’s that simple. Wherever you are, be there.
A small change of mindset – awareness – and we can be more fully engaged and enjoy the gifts that we have here and now. So wherever you are, be there. Be there. Be.
