Be there

PHOTO: Sidekick Rusty and faithful dog, Murphy.

THE LULU CHRONICLES

LuLu-ism #34: Deep inside of us, God implanted a button that needs to be switched to ON. Trick is, He's left the 'switching' up to us.

It’s early, dark, windy, and rainy. Another LuLu-less day. So, Rusty, the faithful sidekick in the loft is my go-to guy… again.

This morning as I pedaled with my eyes closed, you can do that when there’s no fear of running into anything or falling over, I was struck with how non-participatory exercise can be. Your body can be doing something, like riding a stationary bike, but your mind can be back in bed, or going over the to-do list for the day, or whatever. That’s when it dawned on me that we can live life like that too… and I have way too often.

There is a little phrase I’ve chanted in my head for years now whenever I realize I’m having an out of body non-participatory moment: Live in the present, fool! So many times I’ve caught myself missing the moment because my head isn’t with me. Before I know it, time is gone, or an event has passed, and precious time was lost. My body was there, but no one was home. I’m convinced that’s not a good way to check off your days.

Be there. Come what may, don’t let one precious day get by you that you weren’t living it on purpose. I mean, even the bad days, the sucky days that have you wishing you’d rather be in Peoria or Bald Knob, Arkansas, just anywhere but where you are. Like it or not, it’s the sucky days that teach us most about life and about ourselves. Sadder still is that we don’t just do that, this wishing away our days, on the bad days. We do it on the good days too. We forget to show up in our own lives way too often. Missing. Regretting. Losing out.

Do you know it’s a proven fact, although I can’t quote you book and verse, but Google it if you don’t believe me that we get more out of our exercise if our heads are into it? As we lift a weight, or do a sit up, or say, pedal a bike, if our heads are counting and aware of the reps, or concentrating on the position of our feet, legs or whatever, our muscles respond better to what we’re putting them through, therefore we get more out of the moment.

I, for one, do not want to cheat my exercise regimen, especially if I’m losing precious sleep to do it, nor do I want to cheat my life of its days. Be there, folks. Be present, all of you, in what your doing, experiencing, learning, etc.,

Live in the present, dear ones…

deb