I witnessed a big brown dog out for a stroll with a small boy on the end of his leash.
Laughing at the incongruity of the pair, I wondered who was walking whom. I thought how easily it would be for this large dog to hijack this tiny boy to walk along the pet’s preferred path. After a moment of chuckling, I returned to my previous worry about some future thingamajig. As I reentered this worry pattern, the image of the big dog and the little boy popped into my mind.
Who was walking whom?
My worry thoughts were like the big dog, pulling my attention away from the present moment. Like a small child, my attention was yanked out of present time, dragged forward by this current of worry about a future that had not yet come.
I realized I had been time traveling.
I snapped back to the present, breathed consciously, and noticed my surroundings. “Be here now.” I checked in with my body and my emotions and found I was just fine. Everything in this moment was fine.
I focused upon the beauty of the sky and the budding greenery of spring.
I felt contentment, reflecting on my many blessings. I was quickly back in the present moment – jerked back to real time by the simple appearance of a big brown dog and a small boy. I had to smile as I imagined the young boy going home to announce to his parents that he had rescued a woman from the unnecessary throes of worry.
My tiny hero and his furry sidekick.
I reflected upon this epidemic of time travel. How frequently your regret catapults you to past transgressions. This type of runaway time travel is distinctly different from a conscious review of past choices or making amends. Practices of forgiveness, clarifying feelings, and righting wrongs are actions taken to achieve resolution, clear past bindings, and make peace with self and others.
Allowing a return to the present moment rather than keeping you trapped in the past.
Equally ineffective is a fearful leap forward, imagining future scenarios of how things could go very wrong. While creative solution generation makes good sense, it’s different from fruitless worry or complaining. These are simply an inefficient use of energy, focus, and intelligence.
Such fearful or critical thoughts pull your attention from what’s happening and placing it on what’s not.
Without the ability to notice and then sit with what is happening right now, you lose the option to consciously choose how to “be” and what “do.” Calm contemplation, even in challenging times, helps you access greater wisdom so you may engage in inspired action.
Indigenous shamans, wise leaders, and conscious parents dream the future for themselves, their communities, and their great, great grandchildren. They travel within their imagination, in partnership with their guidance, to witness a positive future. But you’re no shaman, so how’re you going to dream the future?
Here’s the good news. You’ve been in training for a lifetime.
All that time spent projecting your thoughts and imagination forward and backward in time makes you a genius time traveler. That’s where the shift comes in. Replacing worry with daydreaming a positive outcome. Strengthening the vision with feel good emotions, encouraging self talk, and beautiful images.
If you’re not great in the positive imagination department just yet, start by writing, drawing, or creating a vision board of a future outcome.
Time travel can be mindless (ruminating while driving) or mindful (noticing our surroundings, silent contemplation). You are already primed for this type of dreaming. Exploring a lovely future sure beats being dragged along by worry. As a bonus, you’ll begin to create new neural pathways. Building new skills and increasing the potential for positive dreaming.
Observe yourself to notice how often you speed forward and backward in time.
Make a choice to stay present. Plan some quiet time to consciously and creatively travel through time. Shaman style. Dream a new, bright future into being.
Peace be with you and with all. No exceptions.
A lot of people are EXCITED about the chance to vote in this presidential election. That’s new for many. Excitement. Passion. Commitment. Wanting to have a voice. Regardless of why they feel strongly or which candidate they are choosing, there is interest and commitment this year. This seems to be one thing we have in common with our fellow citizens. I enjoyed this encouragement to VOTE from the Hamilton cast. Here’s the link: Hamilton X When We All Vote. Spread the word. If you need help getting registered, call me! I’ll help you.
Learn the one essential skill that allows you to face any challenge with confidence, sturdiness, and inner calm.
More than a technique. It’s a game changer.
Life is stressful. Always.
If you pause for a moment, you’ll see there is always something stressful happening. It might be mild, like when you’re running a bit late for an appointment. Or significant, like dealing with a major loss or facing a radical change in your life. If there’s a weather disaster, a country in disarray, or a threat to your livelihood, the stress meter goes way up.
One cool Spring morning, I stepped on the treadmill at the gym looking forward to walking a few miles. Recovering from an injury, I had to walk at a moderate pace so I had brought my copy of What Is Enlightenment? magazine to explore. I always found something to inspire me within this publication focused upon consciousness, culture, and cosmos.
Stress is a natural experience in life. It’s often viewed as a doorway to disruption of wellbeing, peace of mind, and a clear navigational path in a challenging situation.
I’m a bit of a news hound these days. As one who hasn’t watched a newscast in years, I’m surprising myself. Ordinarily, I wait for the news to come to me. And it does. When something is important for me to know or respond to, I hear about it. Kind friends, clients, my husband, or a random stranger share a soundbite which cues me to look into a situation further. I’ve been very comfortable with this level of engagement for years now.
In the midst of our country’s woes, I’ve got Lucinda Williams singing in my head.
“You can’t rule me
you wanna go and tell me what’s good for me
you wanna tell me what I’m payin’ for
Well, the game is fixed, it’s plain to see
I ain’t playin’ no more”
I drove through a hail storm today. It began gently, offering a musical accompaniment to my journey. Intensifying, the hail noisily demanded my attention.
