Present And Correct

Exercise: Run, Yoga
Food: Dates, 2 bananas, salad of leaves, capers, avocado, tomatoes, olives and tofu, pineapple and orange juice

I am completely surrounded by the message of 'BE PRESENT'. I hear ya God! I'm reading 'Row, row, row your boat: A guide for living in the Divine Flow' by Steven Lane Taylor and it rocks. Just a bit of awareness can bring freedom. One thing he says is we need to be present to recognise the clues and signs right in front of us to live the life we want. And when we're not in the present we are usually stuck in the past or projecting to the future.

Today I went for a run and I decided to do a running meditation. I've made this up for myself I don't know if anyone else does it. As I ran I was repeating the phrase 'I open myself fully to giving and receiving love'. It was such a joy and I felt I'd run it in half the time although I hadn't. It was one of those times when I could have run forever plus I got to expand my heart. At home I'm still developing my meditation practice but I might repeat a verse of scripture like 'Be still and know that I am God' or a phrase like the one above. The possibilities are endless.

On www.aish.com there are 48 ways to wisdom. And one of them is about staying present. It states that killing time is a crime. And I agree time is not for killing it's for purposeful living, purposeful work, purposeful play, purposeful relationships etc. You get the gist. The thing that was so profound was the statement that we find it painful to be in the present, that is why we waste time. Think about it we numb ourselves with TV, food, alcohol, drugs, shopping and the rest, or we focus on the past or daydream about the future but not in any meaningful way. The extent to which we do these things may well be an indicator of how much or how little purpose we have in our lives.

I continue to marvel at all the resources we have access to in our lifetime. I leave you with Oprah's address to the Class of 08 at Stanford Uni.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpd3raj8xww

Present And Correct

Exercise: Run, escalators, and a tonne of walking
Food: mango and pear smoothie, 3 bananas, some dates, 2 salads of mixed leaves with either peppers, sweetcorn, cabbage and onion or beetroot, carrot and cucumber

I processed some semi-dried tomatoes (from Spitalfields) with a little olive oil to use as dressing, the tomatoes tasted gorgeous. Although the salads weren't quite right a little cold methinks.

Glad to be out in the fresh air running, and marvellous weather for it too. Not sure I would be up to it feeling the effect of tuesday's yoga's class which was all about the legs, and still building strength. Although have a definite inner strength. The message for me at the moment is very obviously 'be present'.

So I visualised doing my run and just enjoyed each 'step' as I went not worrying about how far I'd done or how far to go, and it was blissful, almost timeless.

I've been motoring through my back copies of 'Living Nutrition' and I've read at least three articles about 'being present' in one form or another!

Ways to be present

- Look at the person you are talking too
- When you eat, savour each mouthful, note how you are feeling, look at the colours,
- Smile
- Let past 'stories' be that, create new stories now
- Use language creatively and lovingly
- Spend time in nature (even if it's a walk down your road!) and focus on all that surrounds you
- Be forever grateful

This bit is from an article by Happy Oasis in Vol 19, 2007 Living Nutrition mag
reframing statements from a negative to a positive


- What's wrong? What's happening?
- Are you ill? How are you feeling?
- I don't want to get sick I aim to be healthier than ever
- Life is suffering Life is so precious, brimming with gifts
- It's freezing outside Invigorating isn't it?
- Feeling lousy I'm feeling a little less than fabulous
- Don't worry Have faith
- Don't shout Shall we whisper? Wonderful!
- I don't want to I prefer
- I won't I'd rather
- I hate I appreciate
- I hate rain Rain is beautiful
- You can't win The adventure continues

Genius!