Double digit day! - Day 10

Wow, have I really been waking up early for now 10 days?  Technically this would be my 9th day of getting up around 5 AM but if you count hours of sleep, then it is day 10.  Still impressive to me is that each day my mind knows what time the clock is reading and just wakes up.  This morning in particular, I vividly recall a point when I rolled over and in my mind I could hear "it's time to get up, it's almost 5."  I opened my eyes, tapped on my watch and to my amazement, my mind was right.  4:55 AM was the time staring back at me.

The mind is a tricky thing.  Think about all the things you do in a day and how many of them you do without even thinking about them.  Random things like breathing, walking, sitting, standing, listening, gauging temperature, feeling the atmosphere in a room, watching the world exist around you...ok some of these things you may think about a little.

I want to discuss taking time back.  Owning what is yours and only giving it away with conscience knowledge instead of blindly wasting it without a thought.  Start just by sitting back and listening to your breath.  Hear the sounds as you just breathe in and out.  Take time to breathe in deep, expanding your stomach and feeling your lungs expand to capacity then release it as easy  as it came in, making sure to push out as much as possible.

Now feel yourself as you sit.  Feel the chair or the sofa or the bed underneath you.  Feel the material and how your body reacts to it.  Is it hard and pushing against you or is it soft and inviting.  Every moment is a chance to think and feel what is around you.  Focusing on every part of you, thinking about your toes, ankles, shins, knees, thighs, hips, back, stomach, chest, arms, neck, head...even your hair.  How does it feel?  As you just read that last sentence, you were subconsciously thinking about each part of your body and feeling something, maybe tingling, maybe warmth, maybe something else, but the fact is, you were multitasking and may not have even known it.

We so often find ourselves rushing from place to place, task to task without stopping to experience the moments we are blindly losing forever.  Yes, losing forever.  How powerful a thought is that.  Time does not stop, clocks keep ticking, and we are wasting all those precious moments without even giving them a second thought.  Sad now that you think of it, hmmmm?

Maybe it's time to start paying attention a little closer.  I know what you are thinking, 'I'm too busy, I don't have time' but actually time is the one thing we all do have.  Every living person has time, it's all in how you use it.

Let's take a moment to think of one simple thing that happened in your day yesterday that you only now are noticing happened.  Maybe a butterfly landed on your windshield as you waited at a light during your morning drive.  Maybe someone smiled at you and it made you smile back.  Maybe you saw something glorious and took a second to react to it and feel it. As you progress through your day keep that one simple thought in mind.  Use it to help you take control of your time and enjoy it fuller rather than just rushing through.  Smile. Breathe.