All You Have Is Today

Where I ate my lunch one day in the summer

I used to be notorious for never living in the moment.  My mind was always racing forward to a perceived future event or dwelling on some past hiccup, but never right where I was at that particular time.  It was exhausting, miserable and completely unsustainable.  As I began to realize this, I looked for steps to bring about change in my life and began to cultivate mindfulness in a few different ways.

One of these was to wake up every morning and remind myself that "Jas, all you have it today."  I find it most effective to look at myself in the mirror and say the words aloud, so that I am really hearing myself.  It's amazing how your whole world changes when you only have 1 day.  Your priorities become very clear, very quickly.  It's like that story of the person who has a house full of many beautiful things that they seem to love equally, but when a blaze threatens the whole house that person decides very quickly the few things worth rescuing from a fire.

The truth is we aren't guaranteed a whole lifetime on this earth.  Just because the sun has always risen in the past doesn't mean it is guaranteed to rise again tomorrow morning.  When you only have 1 day, you make certain to tell those dear to you that you love them.  You are kinder to strangers.  You are gentler on yourself.  You are more appreciative of the little things in life and you allow gratitude for a life well lived to infuse your day and your smile.  When we are mindful, we allow ourselves to shine and illuminate others.

Perhaps, just for today, you can practice being mindful.  You can really taste your food, really feel the rain as it falls on your face, really listen to the voices of the people you love all around you.

It has made a world of difference in my life.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Have a mindful and peaceful day.