When you drive, what are you focusing on – the cars around you, the space your vehicle takes on the lane, the music playing on the radio or the questions in your head? When you talk to someone: are you really listening? Or are you just analyzing and judging anything being said? Even answering questions before the person even finishes asking?
Where have you been? Here or in your head? Aware to what’s happening, fully engaged in the moment… or elsewhere? Not really paying attention to what you’re doing or saying?
Awareness is vital if we want to be masters in our lives, because we can only do something in the NOW. Everything is happening right now. The present is the seed of the future. And when we focus on where we are, we can perceive our actions and the way the world reacts to us. Only then, it will be possible to conduct ourselves to the life we want. This is what many oriental philosophies would call “being in the present” and it is extremely powerful. For example: if you want to be healthier, you must be aware of what you’re feeding your body with. Or, if you want to communicate better, you must pay attention to what the other is saying, the words he is using, the face expressions he is making.
To change anything, FIRST you must be conscious of how things really are like. See it how it is. Not the delusional image of the present or denying it for a picture painted in our minds. Only then we will be able to know if our reality is in accordance to what we really want from our life. And if it’s not… change our attitude and take action.
So, the next time you feel overwhelmed by your to-do list, like time is the scarcest resource in the world or when you feel like you can’t get along with people around you… OBSERVE! Perceive yourself, how you are contributing to the situation, how you have been acting. Are you fully engaged or are you somewhere else in the far away lands of imagination?
Life if like making pottery – as the clay spins, it will mold itself to your movements, the actions of your hands. Life is what we make of it. What have you been making of yours?
Paula Camila Pinto 