|
Today's
Meditation:
One
of the most important lessons that I've learned in life is
how to break big jobs down into smaller tasks in order to
make them more manageable. If I think about writing
an entire novel, for example, the task seems to be an
incredibly daunting one. If I think about writing
scenes that take about three or four pages to complete,
though, and they all fit together to make a larger whole,
then it's much easier for me. Think about a two-hour
movie--it's composed of scenes that last thirty seconds to
two minutes, usually; no one films an entire two hours in
one take. It would be simply impossible.
If
I think about my life as a whole, it becomes
overwhelming. If I think about today--what I need to
do and when I need to do it--things become much
simpler. If I think about trying to be kind for the
rest of my life, I don't see how that can be done except
in very general terms. If I think about how I can be
kind today, I can think of very specific ways that I can
accomplish that goal. And if I think about what I
can do today to learn something new and potentially
important, that, too, is do-able by reading a good article
or part of a very good book that will teach me, or even by
having a good conversation with someone who knows more
than I (which is almost everyone!).
You
have a short lifespan ahead of you on this day. What
will you do with it? Is it manageable? If you
think of very specific things that you want to do with
this day, I'm sure that you can make them happen.
You can compliment someone you rarely compliment, you can
encourage someone you normally don't encourage. You
can watch a good documentary or read a good article.
You can take a lovely, vigorous walk and treat yourself to
something nice.
We
can only live our moments, not our years, and our days are
full of moments that are just waiting to be used well, in
ways that are fulfilling and wonderful. What will
you do with your today?
|
