Posts Tagged ‘living in the Now’

Walking in the Rain

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

I spent this morning walking round one of my favourite bits of Surrey.  It was pouring all the time we were out.  Odd as it sounds we really didn’t notice.   The thing is that we had on the right gear, and as we knew from the start that we would get wet, we didn’t need to spend anytime wondering or worrying about  it.

That got me thinking about all the times we spend worrying about “What if this happens?  What if that happens?!?”  It drains our energy and ruins our day, and, more often than not, it doesn’t happen!  And yet we have lived through all our imagined horrors. 

If we prepare as best we can and just get on with it is amazing how little we notice the ‘rain’, and if it happens, we are in the best state to handle whatever actually occurs.  Dealing with reality, in the moment is so much better than fighting imaginary monsters and ‘what ifs’.

“Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.   Roger Miller

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky.”  Rabindranath Tagore

 

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A Heck of an idea… or is this the Herd Reich?

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

One of the odder activities that went on in Nazi Germany was the scheme to resurrect the Auroch.  These were a giant, primitive form of cattle that stood 6’ tall and had horns of similar dimensions.  They were hunted to extinction but remain part of European (and British) history.  Herman Goering, backed two zoologists called Heck, who tried to revive this breed.  Derek Gow, a Devon farmer has now imported a herd of 13 bulls, cows and calves.

It is an interesting story based on reviving the past and the tales we tell ourselves of who we are and what makes us special.  All our lives are filled with such stories; this is also true in companies and is part of what makes up corporate culture. 

However, being special because of some mythic past is one thing, but no substitute for being special because of who we are today and how we live our lives in the here-and-now!  I wish Mr Gow success with his endeavour, but I wish you much more in living mythically today.

“Glory be to God for dappled things for skies of couple-colour as a brindled cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim”   Gerard Manley Hopkins

“Unless what we do is useful, glory is vain”   Latin Proverb

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Living in the Now versus Investing for the Future

Monday, May 19th, 2008

“All I know is: our Chinese live in the expectation. Expectation, is that the word close to Future? The farmers grow their rice in the spring, and they water it and expect it grow every day. The rice sprouts turn into green and the rice pole grow up taller. Then summer comes and the farmers look forward to grain growing bigger. Then the autumn harvest and the grain becomes golden. Their expectation is nearly fulfilled, but not complete. After the harvest they separate the straw and millet. The straw goes to the shepherd’s pens or the pig’s yard, and the millet goes to the market for sale. All this is so that a family can have better life in the winter and in the coming Spring Festival. In the winter they burn the roots and grass on the fields to nourish the soil for next year’s re-plant. Everything is for the next step. So look this nature, life is about the expectation, but not about now, not about today, or tonight. So you can’t only live in today, that will be the doom day.” Xiaolu Guo, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

I thought the above extract was rather interesting as it crystallised something for me. We are always being encouraged to “Live in the Now!“, which I have always considered something of a challenge. I have had friends who have considered “Being spontaneous” as a higher state of being. The thing is that real life requires us to find a balance between these two extreme states. It is a “Both… And” world not an “Either..or” one.

Of course we should be as fully present in the moment as we can be, but we have to make time to plant seeds for tomorrow too. Finding this balance, and shifting our energy and attention appropriately is the challenge.

So today’s challenge is Be Present Now…. And act in the awareness that the choices you make in this instant are already determining you future, so make sure it is a future you wish to live through!

“Don’t let the past steal your present.” Cherralea Morgen

“We had to learn…that it did not really matter what we expected from life but rather what life expected from us.” Viktor Frankl

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