Living Your Life in Real Time
“What is you believed that your life journey is unfolding EXACTLY as it is meant to -that, you are already doing everything you need to be doing and that everything is on track…?” – Shelley Pearson
This is something that I’ve been thinking about lately. I tend to push myself and pressure myself. I often have this frantic internal dialogue about needing to accomplish more, to be more, and that somehow something is missing. Do you ever feel that way? What if, though, I/we lived with the confidence, peace and assurance that everything is actually working out really well even if things are messy. When I do that, I tend to breathe more deeply and live in the moment more fully.
Let’s get honest here…
Discontentment is a struggle for me at times. How about you? Partly because I am a visionary. I can picture things, I like to come up with ideas and I can dream about the future easily. It can feel so real that it is like I am already there. For example, I picture living out the dreams I have for a family and the vocational dreams I have of being a writer, a counselor and a life coach. And then, I come back to reality where I’m on the path but haven’t arrived to the beautiful picture that I imagined in my mind. The day to day grind of life can wear on me when I want my dreams to take flight.
On the other side of the coin, I also have a good memory for the past. I have had some wonderful life experiences. I have been blessed to have been able to travel to many places around the world. God has enabled me to bless others and be blessed by them. He has taken me on many grand adventures. In addition, I have met so many extraordinary people and have become friends with some soul sisters and brothers. I know what it’s like to live in community. For example, I lived with four women during graduate school in a house that we called “the blue house.” We ate together, laughed together, prayed together, cried together and had spontaneous dance parties. We were friends living as family with one another. That is just one example of the beautiful grace I’ve experienced. Yet, when life gets hard, it is all too easy for me to compare my present with my past and to feel like my present level of life and community isn’t good enough.
So, when I compare my current quality of life with the past or compare it with my imaged-not-yet future, many times it falls short. Needless to say, getting out of this discontentment trap can be challenging.
Yet, the moments that I remember that I am exactly where I am supposed to be regardless of whether it matches the beautiful images in my mind, are crucial. In fact, it is very important to create the discipline of being present in one’s actual life in real time. This is something I am learning to do – to appreciate this very moment as imperfect as it is.