I love making plans. I write to-do lists like it's what I do for a living. (I know that's pretty sad!) I dream all the time and am always thinking about the future. One might say that my future-oriented thinking is a positive trait, but that isn't necessarily the case. Why? Plans almost always never go exactly as I'd like them to.
Example: I began training for my first marathon back in 2007. When I found the perfect plan to help me reach my goal time, I was thrilled. I bet I annoyed everyone in my life at the time because it was pretty much all I talked about. I loved knowing each and every day how far I was going to be running and I had full faith that if I followed the plan to a tee, I'd meet my goal time.
Lo and behold...I got injured. The second month of my training plan, I felt some pain in my foot and it kept getting worse as I did my planned run each day. I researched online to find out could be going on and asked a few running friends, but I didn't find out what was really up with my foot until I saw a physical therapist. When the therapist told me that my training plan would have to be put on hold for a few weeks, I was totally devastated. My beloved plans would have to be changed! I was concerned that if I couldn't stick with the plan, my goal time, my DREAM, wasn't going to happen. I was super sad and super pissed.
I'm sure you've experienced the feelings I felt when I wasn't able to continue my plan exactly the way I wanted. When you've got your heart set on something in the future and circumstance stops you in your tracks, you're left disappointed and downtrodden...distressed and stressed out. You're heartbroken.
When we get caught up in expectations of the future, we're just setting ourselves up for the feelings I just mentioned. Why? There are far too many factors out there that are completely out of our control.
Well...get this. These feelings can be remedied. How? By centering our focus on the circumstances we're in...right now!
Though it's great to have goals and work towards them, it's a much less stressful way to live if we're not concentrating all of our happiness on if we meet those goals. Alternatively, if we regret or linger on things that have happened in the past, we're never really going to be happy because that is another circumstance we have no control over. All we really have is right now.
This is why there is so much talk of being present and taking advantage of the current moment when it comes to a yoga practice. Right now is actually all we have.
One of the required readings for yoga teacher training is a book by Darren Main titled Yoga and the Path of the Urban Mystic. Darren states that life can only actually be lived in the present moment. "Changing your mind, and consequently changing your reality, can only happen in the present moment. We can spend a lot of time regretting or feeling nostalgic about the past. We can fantasize about the future or live in fear of it. The past is gone and the future is nonexistent. Therefore, the only time that exists is now."
I found his words to be particularly interesting because of my plan-based lifestyle. I fantasize about the future on a daily or even an hourly basis. If all of my energy is placed on trying to meet these goals, I will always be devastated when life doesn't allow me to follow through.
As I read his book further, I found out that what happens to us doesn't necessarily have to result in unhappiness. He also says that "if we focus on [the] negative experiences [that happen to us], that's what we'll unconsciously create in our lives." Apparently, I don't always have to feel victim to what the world throws at me and stops my plans from happening.
One of the most powerful passages from Darren's book was this one, for me: "How we focus the mind determines how our reality will unfold. Until we learn to focus the mind on the present moment and make conscious choices, we will always feel like the victim of happenstance. It's so important to see that life is not about luck or fate, but rather about choice."
We have a CHOICE you guys!!! We can choose to accept what happens to us and our plans! It doesn't always have to royally suck. Yes, it may not be what we want. But...what we want may not always be the best thing for us, anyway. Sometimes we never really know. That actually doesn't really matter. What matters is that we can choose to change our minds about our circumstances...rather than dwell on what we wanted to change about the past...or what we hope to achieve in the future. All we can control is what we're thinking right now. Right now is all we'll ever have.
The emotions I felt when I got my injury were unnecessary. I learned a whole bunch about how to change my plan into a new one that would prevent injury and still prepare me for the marathon. And guess what? I not only met my goal time...I beat it by 10 minutes! It's hard for me to find words to describe how I felt when I finished. I felt supremely proud and extremely elated...like a better version of myself. These feelings were definitely a result of knowing I overcame an obstacle that put a kink in my plans.
I'm learning more and more every day that all we can really do is to make the most of RIGHT NOW. That's because now is all we'll ever have. We'll never know what tomorrow can bring, and we cannot change the past.
Based on my experience and what I continue to learn...do I still make plans? I sure do. It makes me happy to dream. I'm just much more mindful when mind plans don't work out. And, I have made a big promise to myself. I refuse to plan this early in yoga teacher training exactly how I'll be able to teach others yoga. I do have dreams and I will keep my eyes open for opportunities. I'm just going to enjoy the training. I'm going to make the most of now - because right now will never happen again.
I hope your now is as awesome as you are.
Sarah
Love this post!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Sara :)
Delete