I understand that some days can’t go by fast enough. We just want them to be over. Recently, I found myself saying that I’d be glad when this entire month is done with because of current and looming unpleasantness on the calendar.
Then I heard a song that reminded me of a basic longing in most every heart that’s reflected in a lot of music: More often than not, we desperately want time to slow down.
But the advice in John Mayer’s song, Stop This Train, rings true: “Don’t for a minute change the place you’re in.” Living in the past or the future, blinds us in a way to the joy that’s in front of us, and we really need to learn how to appreciate the now.
That may be a challenge if your “present” is a challenge, however, and I realize this.
But author Emily P. Freeman has a practice that might help you wake up to your life in the here and now, not denying the mundane and the awful, but not ignoring the ordinary beautiful and the extraordinarily joyful.
Listen in to learn about that, and be reminded that in our “right nows” we can find amazing gifts.
NOTES:
Beathard, Casey and Chris Wallin. “Don’t Blink.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f0p5KqdU9U
Bock, Jerry and Sheldon Harnick. “Sunrise, Sunset.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03rzUoyq9K0
Carlisle, Bob and Randy Thomas. “Butterfly Kisses.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmC3rJR7E98
Freeman, Emily P. “Point and Call.” The Next Right Thing Podcast, Episode 92. https://emilypfreeman.com/podcast/92/
Gorey, Ashley and Lee Thomas Miller. “You’re Gonna Miss This.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBDN8yWyNYU
Mayer, John and Pino Palladino. “Stop This Train.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS2o4q7vRFM
Nordeman, Nichole and Christopher Stevens. “Slow Down.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clcNB_EUao8
Ondrasik, Vladimir John III. “100 Years.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR-qQcNT_fY
Voskamp, Ann. “Figuring Life Out: One Thousand Gifts.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhOUaszMGvQ
