Who gave permission for the “should be’s” and the “should have been’s” to take up residence in our heads? The “should be’s” propel us into the future and the “should have been’s” chain us to the past. Hushing the holler is key to living mindfully in the present…in the here and now…in the wonder of the moment.
Recently I had an appointment set in a nearby small town. I had had a week of busy-ness and the sing song of “should be’s” and “should have been’s” was playing in my head. Straddling between the past and the present is exhausting. And so I misread my planner and arrived over an hour early to my meeting. And so I said,
“What would it be like to get lost for an hour…purposely lost?”
And so I did.
I noticed the humorous names of stores on main street…I observed whole flocks of birds flying above…I talked to a native about the large, but friendly white tailed squirrels that resided in the town…I smiled at the many dogs lounging about as if it were Saturday…I noted how many townsfolk were walking about…and I read various historical markers.
Something happened…
The more lost I got the din of the “should be’s” and “should have been’s” lessened. Getting purposely lost had ushered me right into the wow of the what’s happening and the simplicity of the scene.
Years ago an elderly cloistered nun living in a monastery once leaned close to me and whispered…”sometimes I get lost on purpose and hide in the bell tower”. She had shared with me wisdom that now I was coming to understand…
There is power in the present. It is there we find peace from the “doing the splits living” between the past and the future. The present grounds us.
J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote, “Not all those who wander are lost.”
Yes, living mindfully by getting purposely lost was just what was needed to calm the busy-ness…
When was the last time you got purposely lost?
Gerry says:
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