A Whole New Today; A Whole New Tomorrow...

“Just for today...”

“Practice the posture...”

“Follow your feet...”

There are myriad sayings that remind us to stay in the present. Even in my yoga practice I repeatedly remind and am reminded to be present with my breath and to stay in the pose. Yet even after all of these reminders—on and off the mat—I find it still so easy to slip into tomorrow. It's so comfortable to try and figure out what tomorrow will bring when, really, I have no idea what even the rest of today will bring.

When I go down to move my laundry from the washer to the dryer it could go smoothly, there might be someone else's clothes in the dryer, or something I can't even imagine could be in place. Silly example, I know, but it works the same with laundry as it does with everything else. I can plan and plan and plan and plan how a presentation, performance, interview, apology, confession, or whatever will go but when it gets to the actual event it's just not up to me. All I can do is be prepared; the rest is up the the Universe.

This doesn't let me off the hook for having to do any work, mind you; it just frees me from having to run the world. It's a relief, actually. The more often I remember that I have the option to stay out of the results the more easily I find I can just do the work. It gives me a chance to more directly focus my energy on the task at hand because I don't have to save any so that I can try to control and manage things I can't control or manage.

Even though I want things to turn out my way, it's just not always going to happen that way. Once I finally understood that, today suddenly took on a new light. The weight of tomorrow was lifted and today became something I could handle. If I have a task that seems too big to even start, it probably is and can be broken down into smaller, on-the-go, bite-sized pieces. It's much easier to enroll in a class or two on a Monday morning than trying to earn an entire degree while I should be working.

I do one thing, then I do the next thing, then I do the next thing until all of those things are done. They don't all have to get done right now. Other things will come up and still others will clear away. The degree to which I freak-out and micro-manage—or don't—is up to me. I'm so grateful that's where my influence ends. I get a new freedom for today and I get a whole new tomorrow.

Just for today, I will practice the posture at hand and I will be where my feet are.

Namasté