Just for today

Just for today, I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do something for twelve hours that would appall me if I felt I had to keep it up for a lifetime.

Just for today, I will be happy. This assumes to be true what Abraham Lincoln said, that “most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

Just for today, I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.

Just for today, I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my “luck” as it comes, and fit myself to it.

Just for today, I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn, and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do–just for exercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt; they may be hurt, but today I will not show it.

Just for today, I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress becomingly, talk low, act courteously, criticize not one bit, not find fault with anything and not try to improve or regulate anybody except myself.

Just for today, I will have a program. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. I will save myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.

Just for today, I will have a quiet half hour all by myself, and relax. During this half hour, sometime, I will try to get a better perspective of my life.

Just for today, I will be unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful, and to believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me.

Sybil F. Partridge (1916)

...and just forever SNOW (and SNOW STORM) here in the Elm City!

Mindfulness Meditation

The Ocean from West Haven, kind of meditation :)

 

Accade spesso che qualunque cosa stiamo facendo – seduti, in cammino, in piedi oppure sdraiati – la mente è per lo più sconnessa dalla realtà immediata ed è invece assorta nella compulsiva concettualizzazione del futuro o del passato.
Mentre camminiamo, pensiamo ad arrivare e quando arriviamo, pensiamo ad andare. Quando mangiamo, pensiamo a fare i piatti e quando facciamo i piatti, pensiamo a guardare la televisione. Questo è un modo bizzarro di far funzionare una mente.

Non siamo connessi con la situazione attuale, ma pensiamo sempre a qualcos’altro. 
Troppo spesso ci consumiamo con l’ansia e i desideri, coi rimpianti del passato e con l’anticipazione del futuro, perdendo completamente la fragrante semplicità del momento presente.

B. Alan Wallace