A New Year

As we enter into another new year, the all too familiar feeling of making promising resolutions re-surfaces. Do you feel the pressure? I have always found it difficult to jump on board with this tradition - for one thing, a year goes by way too quickly now for me to even think about what new thing I can change about myself once again. I mean, what is so bad about the current me?  And, if there was something I wanted to change, why is it that I have to wait for some magical date to initiate the process?  

The older I get, the greater desire I have had to live and to be in the present.  I started paying more attention to it once years ago when I was forced to slow it down. I was out of work and in constant pursuit of my next move, filled with worry that I had no future.  I would notice how most of society dictates us to live and to plan for the future and, in return, we obey and consistently live our lives for tomorrow.  I am not saying planning is a bad thing, a certain amount of responsibility in one's life can only benefit our today; however, we tend to become so caught up in the planning and worry for our tomorrow, we completely forget about our now.  

For me, learning to live in the present has been a journey worth taking.  My greatest teachers have been nature, time, and my dog.  Nature just happens, we cannot control it, but we tend to find the beauty in it.  Time is the fairest of all things as we all have the same amount - it can mean different things to different situations, but a 24 hour day is still a 24 hour day. And my dog, well, she only cares about now and goes after what she wants when she wants it...she keeps things fairly simple with eating, drinking water, playing, and loving everyone she meets.  I am pretty sure she is not waiting for a new year or tomorrow to make any of them happen.