zen and living in the body

[brightbluegirl]

I'm finally getting into the "live in the moment" feeling, that I know is the best way to be.

2 weeks, it took.

I need to learn how to keep this. Because when I'm working, it's hard to live in the moment at work - I need to *think*, you see, at my job, and if I were present for those full 8 hours, I might just go crazy.

Or maybe I wouldn't, who knows.

But my coping mechanism has been to look forward to the end of the day, when I can go. And then to look forward to when I'm off the skytrain. But then there was no stopping point - I'd continually look forward and continually look forward... and it would be very hard to just enjoy whatever thing I was doing.

So.

I need to figure out how to enjoy the moment every day. How to stay in myself, not get caught up in what's coming next and how cool THAT will be, but just enjoy what I'm doing right. now.

I mean, sure, I'd do that every once in a while, but I wouldn't have that even once a day every day. Never mind the huge chunks of time I've been enjoying today.

I lifted today for the first time in too long. And it was great. I went to the community center, and spent a little more than an hour on the session. I did only one activity at a time (Usually I tend to switch them up so I have little 'rest time' and while I'm resting one muscle I use another, which also 'saves me time'), and people watched during my rests, and such. I could still cut that down (it was, of course, busy, being 12:30ish on a Sunday afternoon), but it was GREAT. I was in my body for the entire time.

Because that, of course, is another way that I am - I live in my head, very much so. Other people are very much in their bodies... but I need to work at that. It's one of the reasons I'm capable of overeating - my taste buds are in my head, but my belly is in my body. I know the head is in the body, but... well, work with me on this one.

So yeah, I live in my head. And one of the reasons I love lifting is that it keeps me conscious of my body. In order to lift safely and properly, I need to live in my body for the entire time I'm lifting. And it feels so good. Why would I give it up?

Probably because of that mindset I wrote above. Always rushing and rushing to get to the next thing, losing sight of the fact that this current thing is THE thing. The only. For this moment.

I'm not saying being goal-oriented is wrong, because it's not, and I won't stop being goal oriented. The two are different. Having future goals and living in the now can both occur.

I just need to keep this feeling.

Or, as I say about so many other things:

I'll just practice it until one day I'll wake up and realize I do it every day. Heh.

Comments

[sinndar.livejournal.com]

Yes, hold on to that feeling. It is very elusive, indeed. :) I like your attitude, "practice makes perfect." It's really hard to apply, when like you said, you have to be worried about work and this and that and the other. Good for you though!

[pennycuts.livejournal.com]

Maybe, everyday you need to write down 5 things that you enjoyed? soon you will noticing how much of your day you actually stop and enjoy:) sometimes the things we enjoy are so simple!

I'm enjoying your discovery process LIsa (HUG)

[fairyfort.livejournal.com]

This is a brilliant plan

[asimplelife.livejournal.com]

Aye, definitely harder to "live in the moment" when you are working. Everything seems so scheduled, tight and GOGOGO, it is also harder to get into the mode of paying attention when you are so worked up.

I think spending some time meditating everyday may help. I definitely am going to give it a whirl and see if it calms me down and enables me to be more relaxed during the non-work hours and less stressed during work.

[aeon-of-maat.livejournal.com]

thoughts are as much an expression of the light as thoughtlessness is. they're like shadow puppets, and you need the light to make shadow puppets, so the shadows are as much the light as the light is, if this makes sense.
something like: the obscurations are not different from that which they seem to obscure. the nature of mind is clear light. even the obscurations of mind are clear light.
I hear the best way to make it stay is to remain unaffected by its arrival or the prospect of its departure. and holding on to it immediately takes you out of it.
its a balancing act, and maybe being out of the moment is impossible anyways.
There's a book called "the diamond cutter" which is about a man who studied for thirty years to become a tibetan lama, and was then told by his master to go to america and start a business without letting on that he was a buddhist. its about his experience trying to be present while working in a big firm. worth checking out if that interests you.
L-ov-E