Time to Move On - Live in the NOW

Okay, so enough of the woulda, coulda, shoulda stuff. Time to get into the NOW and to move on. To live my life today. HOW? Well, that's being Honest, Open, and Willing. So what is NOW? What is living in the NOW really mean? I'm serious. I spend so much time in the past and the future that living for today is new to me.

I know my dog lives in the NOW. Every moment of every day is as new to her as the last. She gets just as excited with me coming home after two hours as three weeks. And each snack, each meal, each scratch behind the ear is as welcome as the last or the next.

But she's a dog. And I am not. I have this human mind that wants to rewind, replay, fast forward, pause, anything but stay in the moment. I'm getting a massage today and have tried, in the past, to enjoy every moment of that hour. But do you think my mind will let me do it? No, I keep thinking, thinking, thinking... It's like a curse, the proverbial squirrel cage that can't even slow down, and stopping isn't an option.

Or is it? I know I've done it before when I've been so in awe of something or found something so humorous that I got out of my head and enjoyed the moment. And then it passes with me saying, oh, if I could just stay in the zone like that all the time. Sometimes I do when I'm writing or editing, but I often get interrupted by family, the phone, or the doorbell. Or sometimes my dog comes running in from the backyard excited about getting a snack.

I'm actually in the zone now but need to remember to leave in 3 minutes to make my massage appointment. I'll remember while driving there to enjoy the sunshine today, knowing that I'm getting the vitamin D I need and that I have nothing pressing after my massage. I can just enjoy the day and have plenty of time to get the rest of my tasks done according to my own schedule. How nice. So maybe NOW is Nice, blank, blank.... Help me out here, folks.