living in the present

hellooo--I'm back from my little vacation to Tucson, Arizona to visit my best friend. I was there for two weeks and I've been back for almost 2 weeks now...time passes by so quickly! It feels like yesterday when I was there! We went to the Grand Canyon, hiked this trail near Sabino Canyon called Seven Falls...I went to A Mountain and saw a beautiful view of Tucson at night. We went to a 20 acre ranch south of Tucson with horses and lots of dogs. In other words, my time in Tucson was jam packed--full of activities, meeting new people and running errands. It was a busy that I was not used to. And it was this kind of busy that I came to understand my friend's life in a different light. It was so great being in a different environment and learning about a different lifestyle that is not as fast-paced as New York's.

Did you know it takes about 75 years for a cactus to grow an arm?? Fun fact I learned from Sam, one of Sophie's friends! 

One lesson, out of the many, I learned during my time there was how to live presently. Sophie's mom gave me a piece of advice that really helped me see my life from a different perspective. She said, "If you want a good look at how your future will be, look in the present because it is the most accurate indicator of how your life will turn out. That's why living in the present is so important." Her words lingered in my head during my whole trip back to NY. Living in the present is one of the biggest challenges that I have. I find myself perpetually living for the future. For example, when I'm at work, I think, "can't wait till work is over...then I'll go to the gym" --> when I'm at the gym --> "can't wait till this workout is over...I'm starving! I just want to eat" and so forth. And that's only the day-to-day routine. Every day, I dream of other possibilities about how my future will look like because I am not appreciative of my present. Living in the present means being aware of your body, your surroundings, your breath, and your feelings at the very moment. Living in the present purposefully is something I must remember to do each and every day. Every decision I make on how I'd like to spend my day contributes to my future. Even small decisions as in choosing what to eat, where to buy my clothes or how to spend my "extra" money. These are every day habits that I've created for myself and these habits will bleed into the future me. If I don't do anything differently today, how do I expect the future to be any better? 

All this is much easier said than done. There are 168 hours a week. That's a lot of time to fill with activities I want to do in the city, friends whom I love to spend time with, spending time with my family, meeting new people, studying, reading for pleasure...and the list can go on and on. The most important thing is that I want to lead a more active life and get out of this routine work rut. My present is not satisfying because all my past habits have fostered this mundane climate in my life. Practicing live in the present and planning activities to ensure that I break old homebody habits will be two tough challenges. But I am so ready for a new lifestyle so let's make it happen!