A Day at a Time

In the 1970s, there was a popular sitcom called "One Day at a Time."  While I watched the show regularly as a teenager, I never really thought about the implications of the show's title.  Indeed, we are all given but one day at a time.  How we use each of those single days is the stuff of contemplation and careful action, especially as we grow older and we realize that those days have been numbered all along. Recently when given sad news about a friend's health, I was reminded of the importance of enjoying each moment and living a day at a time with a heart full of gratitude and a willingness to help bear one another's burdens.  None of us knows what tomorrow will bring or even the next minute for that matter, but we do have the gift of today, this moment.  We also have the ability to live our lives one day at a time with the fullness of our attention that it deserves.  I am trying not to multi-task or worry or regret these days, but instead to try to live as I did when I was a child before the myriad adult distractions hadn't been placed in my mind yet as so-called priorities.  It admittedly takes some effort, but the gift of living a day at a time is well worth it.

In Focus

In a world filled with distractions, it is such a welcome and rare treat these days to be focused on one thing.  How many times have I been at meetings where people are surreptitiously reading emails on their phones instead of listening to a speaker?  Or driving in the car while talking on the phone?  I've read that when we are fully present to a meal, we tend to chew more slowly, savoring the flavors and textures, and consequently eating less.  When I honor the moment, the person speaking, the meal in front of me, my senses become heightened.  I'm more alert.  I observe more.  So it was when Larry and I took a walk in our neighborhood one recent evening.  Quietly walking side by side allowed us to be fully present to each other and to our environment.  At one point along our route, Larry commented about the beauty of a male cardinal as it flew to a lilac bush, while I offered the observation a little later that the chickadees were certainly chattering.  Slowing down, honoring the moment, being present to another person, and savoring the blessing of Now are gifts I can give myself and, in turn, to others.