We are taught from so young to picture the future.
We are asked as children what we will be when we grow up.
We create calendars like roadmaps,
Pinning down the flapping corners with dates and times.
Looking ahead,
We are taught,
Is always a good thing,
A responsible thing.
We've trained ourselves so well to look ahead,
It can be difficult to look around.
If we are filling in squares next week,
Next month,
Next year,
We may pass over this day on our way to the next one,
Taking the highway instead of the winding back road and its scenery.
The pull to look forward has a fretful magnetism with judgment attached.
Successful people are always future focused.
Good students,
Good parents,
Good business people.
Is the future ever here if the destination is never reached?
The pull to look forward can be like magnet fishing.
You may get what you want to focus on,
But you will likely get some rubbish too.
Some of the things the future holds aren't written in calendar squares.
Dark what-ifs,
Projections of fears that fester.
Your mind can serve as a malicious incubator,
A time-lapser,
Ripening the worries into rotting.
We're going to let go of the future for a moment.
Get comfortable,
Whether sitting or laying down.
Release all your breath,
And then take a deep breath through your nose from the bottom of your belly,
Filling up your chest.
Hold it for a few seconds.
And then let it out through your mouth.
In again through the nose,
Holding it for just a moment,
And out again through the mouth.
One more big breath in,
And out.
Close your eyes and listen.
Listen for the farthest sound you can hear.
Let your ears wander through the walls and the windows to find what is outside them.
Maybe traffic,
Birds,
The click of a keyboard,
The din of a distant television,
The voices of neighbors or dogs.
Listen.
Feel the surface beneath you.
What material is it made of?
Is it soft,
Smooth?
Feel how it supports you now,
How it holds you.
Feel your own weight pulled down into that surface by the grace of gravity.
Take another nice,
Deep breath as you let it go.
Let yourself relax into what is beneath you.
Feel the skin on your face slacken,
Your shoulders fall,
Your arms grow loose and lank,
Your belly rises and falls as you breathe.
Listen to the sound of your body taking in breath,
Filling every part of your lungs,
And imagine how,
Without your conscious effort,
That breath saturates your blood with oxygen and flows through you like sap through a tree,
Giving warmth and life to your heart and each individual instrument in the orchestra of your body,
Down to the tips of your fingers and toes.
It is happening now,
This very moment.
All you have to do is rest here and breathe,
And your beautiful body does all of this for you.
You are doing beautifully right here in this moment.
This is the right place for you.
There is enough,
Whatever you feel a scarcity of,
Time,
Energy.
At this moment,
You have what you need.
This is just right.
You are enough.
You,
A miracle,
Living and thinking and experiencing today.
You are enough and more.
Resting here,
Breathing in and out.
You are just right.
You don't have to be any time but now.
We are bound to moments by the grace of gravity and the Earth's gentle movement,
So gradual we can't perceive it,
Much less hurry or slow it down.
The things on your mind will come to pass in their proper order,
Regardless of how often you think about it or fret about what could be.
Worrying is not required to prove that you care.
Breathe and release your timetable.
You don't have to know the future to be prepared for what may come.
Allowing yourself to be where you are,
Instead of looking ahead,
Will give you what you need,
Moment by moment.
It will be an unfolding.
Your life is really a gathering of moments that collect and fill like rain in a barrel.
You've been doing this all along.
You have lived so much without knowing what would happen next.
You will be alright.
You are doing beautifully,
Friend.
Just breathe.
Place your hand on your heart and feel it beat,
Reliable and steadfast,
Carrying you from second to second.
You will be carried in this way.
You can rest here in the simplicity of your breath and your heartbeat and the ground beneath you.
If you feel yourself drifting like a kite into storm clouds,
Remember you have the power to pull yourself back into the safety of this stillness.
Safe.
Safe.
Safe.
You are safe.
