Live the Moment

The animals know how to relax.  It doesn’t matter what comes next.  Animals are content to just be in the now, in this one moment.

Waiting in line at the store, surrounded by stressed people with full carts, ticking off their to do lists, worrying about the time spent between minutes, anxious to get on to the next thing, the lady behind me expressed dissatisfaction at the few tellers.

We began talking about the need to relax.  It turns out, she doesn’t think much about relaxation.   She has her routine, lives a quite life in the country, and only feels stress when she comes into town.  It is the traffic and people who cause her stress.

Why be stressed?  I knew the store would be busy and filled with people trying to get too much done in to little time.  I had no place else to be.  I had no need to hurry.  I had nothing else to do.  Only in that moment, content, I had no stress.

I do have the same to do list as everyone else.  I have shopping, a gift list, wrapping, backing, prep for company and travel.   So how do I do it?  How does a person just relax?

You may not believe this, but relaxing is easy.  Relaxing takes focus.  Yes.  Focus on the things around you, instead of the thing that just happened or the thing that needs to happen next, and then next week.  Take a deep meditative breath and exhale all the body tension away.  Focus on the textures, colors, sounds, and things around you.

Focus on the people right in front of you.  Just enjoy this one moment and relax into the next, and just keep going.