It’s Day #1 again!
Forgetting everything from yesterday, and relinquishing any control over tomorrow, I am open to the day and what miracles and challenges await! Yes, there are some fundamental activities that create the framework of the hours ahead, but they simply form the structure, not necessarily the content.
What I mean to say, is that no matter what the expected demands of us are in a given day, we have a choice about how we approach those. For example, many of us have to help our children get going, get to school or maybe our dogs need to be walked. We may be looking after our grandchildren or showing up to our “day jobs.” Maybe our professions are in service of others and we need to muster up the energy to show up fully.
The garbage needs to go out. Meetings need our leadership and participation. We need to get some food in the house, or make that phone call we have been putting off. A conflict needs resolving. Bills need to be paid. Appointments need to be made and we have a multitude of tasks ahead, whatever form they take.
Regardless of the idiosyncratic shape that our personal upcoming day may take, what we all share in common is the free will to choose our approach to it. Will we resist? Will we resent the way we spend our time? Will we be frustrated by our surroundings and our particular place in the world? Will we yearn for change, or to control things over which we have none? Will we sing same old refrains such as “It’s one of those days…”. Or “why does this always happen to me?”
I would suggest that choosing another path may not be easy, but it is preferable. When we re-set to Day #1, we have a chance to do things differently. Instead of “getting” we can try “letting…”. Being along for the ride, instead of operating its machinery can create a sense of adventure, acceptance, curiosity even.
When we face the day with wonder, we are not abandoning our commitments and responsibilities. We are simply choosing the vehicle that we ride in, as we navigate the terrain. Instead of strapping ourselves into a rollercoaster ride, let’s board a sturdy boat, where we are on the river, but not treading water in the river itself. We can commit to experiencing the ups and downs, and accepting them equally, without preference, or resistance.
This approach takes a lot of practice. It may even seem foreign. But when it’s day #1, we get the chance to try again. See if you can notice the difference between interpreting even one of the day’s events as “stressful” and exchange it for “interesting.” Again, not suggesting it is easy, but like any behavior we want to change, small and consistent trumps big and intermittent.
This is how we increase our ability to truly inhabit our lives, instead of just bouncing around in them. Even the awareness that we have a choice can be an adventure.