A little weekend message.

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I'm a daydreamer. Anytime, anywhere. Playing out little wishes and scenarios in my head. Spacing out of whatever is and whatever is around me.

But too much of that isn't very yoga, is it? Because more than being a guilty pleasure, it takes me out of the present moment – the life, the reality I'm in – and sets me down somewhere that doesn't (and may never) exist. 

Sometimes, I admit, when times are tough or boring, that dream space seems far better than letting my mind touch the earth along with my feet. But I've also let daydreaming become a habit, and I've even wandered the alleys and streets of Barcelona, picturing my life if I lived there. The metro. Espadrilles. Dinner deep into the night. What did I see? What did I miss? What did I eat? There are pockets of time where the answer is: I'm not sure.

Sad, yes?

As we go into the weekend, let's remember that walking and thinking in reality is the only way to be in the moment. Not only is there plenty to gain from good and bad, but it's also what us yogis strive to do.

 
 

Occupy Your Life.

All through dinner, I sat quietly. Went back and forth on what to write for this post. J chatted between bites of risotto. I heard his voice, but nothing registered until I felt a question hanging in the air. Emptiness where my answer should've been. And then came the realization: I had no idea what he said.

Sure, it's not startling. It happens (or has happened) to almost all of us. Our inner dialogue gets the best of us. Sweeps us away, and, in turn, closes us off from the connections we could making. The experiences we could be having. And the richness we could be cultivating. 

When you're preoccupied, it's hard to occupy your life.

Is time flying?

The wind taps against my windowpane.

Whispers.

Words like opportunity,

Possibility.

Pointing 

To new roads untraveled.

Signaling softly, quietly,

But persistently,

That time is flying by.

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Between work and chores and obligations, the days seem impossibly short. Momentary. Fleeting. Coming and going so fast, how will we ever catch up?

But the simple truth is: Time is not flying. We are. 

If you zoom, mind and body, through each and every minute, make today the day you slow down. Just a notch at first. You may find the span between sunrise and sunset stretches a bit longer than you imagined and that it is rife with beauties you never noticed.

After all, life is not about efficiency. And richness is absent from rushing.

Going Thoreau.

Sometimes I want to go off the grid. Lakeside. Mountainside. Farmside. Doesn't matter. As long as there's a cottage. One that sits high off the road and water first spits rusty from the faucets. The type of place that has no yard. Just earth. Maples and tall pines poking holes in the clouds. A rambling dirt drive. And skylights to let in the sun and frame the stars.

No past, no future. Just now...and crickets. Beauty, optimism, and simplicity settling like dust in every nook and cranny of existence.

It's a new day.

Today is a day to believe change sits on the horizon. To keep the faith that the talented, the sharp and the smart persevere. To sit back, drink in the sunset, and live in the now, knowing that, soon, another day will dawn, and, with it, the chance to be better, do better and find better will light the sky.

Happy weekend. See you Monday.