You might ||really live|| just 10 years
How much of your life is spent reliving a past mistake? How much of your life is spent dreading the future? How much of your life do you really live?
An estimated 2 hours of each day is spent really living in the present moment. Let’s say you live to be 80 years old. You aren’t awake every hour of the day, so let’s say you spend 16 hours awake. 1/8 of those hours you are actually in the present moment. That gives you 10 years of life. How can you increase your lifespan? Be here now.
Be here now.
This is a simple sentence that I tell myself whenever my mind starts to spiral out of control. It reminds me to be present and focus on what is happening right now. I spend too much time worrying about the future. I wonder if I will be able to pay for my kids braces, soccer, dance, food, and a fun family vacation. I worry that something bad might happen to someone I love. These and many more thoughts create a false reality that I live in from time to time. It is not a pleasant place to be and there is no mercy.
Give it a try, when your thoughts are racing, tell yourself, “Be here now ______”. Fill in the blank with your name. Talking to yourself in the third person is another technique to calm the inner critic.
“Breathe, allow life to live itself for a while, to see what wisdom emerges when you don’t rush in to put things right. ”
