There is nothing better than a slice of time and a well stocked bookcase.

Today it was Richard Carlson’s ‘ Slowing Down to the Speed of Life’  

It was published in 1990.  My favorite thing to do is to set an intention that the book will open to the pages that I need to see.

I closed my eyes and opened the book. The chapter was titled  ‘Getting back to the moment.’

I love reading things that wake me up and make my life more succulent.  However, what really spoke to me was the section on how we speed up our life. Not that I need any help in speeding it up.

1. Analyzing your problems and your life

2. Judging yourself every time you realize you are out of the moment.

3. Living in the past.

I seem to resonate with this.  The first one, analyzing your problems and your life was especially potent. I really do like to think and to analyze.  It’s fun and it keeps my mind busy.   The problem comes when I give all the power over to my ego. When I do this,  I’m staying in the comfort zone of predicability rather allowing myself to cruise into the unknown.  Truly, that’s where the magic unfolds.  The creativity of the universe lies in the ability to surrender to the unknown and trust that everything will be exactly as it should be.  Trust.  It’s easy to say, but a harder to live with.   I can step back, take a breath and say I surrender.

Any time I am judging something, I am out of the moment.  When I am aware of the background program that I an running that judges and compares, it is a good thing. Why? Because when I am aware of something, I can finally change it.  Try this sometime.  Tell yourself that you are going to be aware of every time you make a judgement.  It’s quite an awakening to see how often we do this.    If  I am honest, I see that I am a frequent judger.  “oh, that person is a terrible driver.” ” that is not such a good color for her'” and the list goes on.  Once I become aware of this behavior, I get to change it.  Not so easy, because its just a habit.

Changing a habit is sort of like paper-training a puppy.  She will miss the paper over and over, and you gently pick it up and put her back on the paper and say, “let’s try that again'” Over time, she figures it out.  Sometimes she really misses the paper.   This is what we need to do with our own behavior, rather than judging and chastising.  Be as nice as you would be to a cute little puppy.  Be consistent and loving.   Simple- just not easy.

Living in the past is another  habit.  The what if’s , if I only could have, I should have.  So here we are. Now. The only reason I am unhappy with something is that I am comparing it to what is not or where I am in this moment.

This  week’s challenge will be to squelch any  negative thought (if I’m aware that I’m having a negative thought) and put each concern or problem on the back burner. This might mean that I am putting things on the back burner over and over, but I will be conscious about making a commitment to this process now and in the next week of nows. The magic lies in allowing the intelligence of the universe to solve what needs solving and fix what needs fixing.  Why limit this to the boundaries of the ego and brain, when there is so much more that we could never even imagine. I’m going to let the magic of the moment move through me today. Would you care to join me?