Now - There Is Nothing Else

I attended a course on biopsychology taught by The Movement's Frankie Faires this past weekend.  It consisted of two days filled with with listening, absorbing, reflecting, testing, connecting, disconnecting, growing, learning, unlearning, and on and on.

Many lessons swirl around my head at different times, but the one aspect that is the recipient of my attention this week is the power of NOW.

NOW is the only entity we truly have.  Everything else is only a memory of what happened or anticipation of what's to come.  I cannot do anything about either of those.  The events of my past only live on in my memories and my associations to these memories. 

The future is uncertain, and focusing on it, worrying about it, only robs me of the one moment I am certain of - NOW.

What I've already found in a few short days since the biopsych course is that paying attention to the current moment and asking "What can I do now?" changes all my decisions, my actions, and my thoughts. 

How? 

By getting me to slow down my reaction times.  That one change changes the response, the outcome. 

How many times have you jumped to a conclusion about a person or their motives in a split second?  Every day?  Me too.  If you stop yourself from thinking about the past with that person and instead focus on the right now, your usual reaction will change.

Instead of remembering how that person has behaved in the past or how you feel about that person, focus on the moment you are in.  Pretend you've lost all memories of that person.  How does that change your reaction to him/her?

Memories can only hurt us now if we don't change our associations with them.

So, this is just a nugget of what I'm working on - focusing on right now, this moment.  LMK if you have thoughts or questions.

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After a full day of teaching and meetings today, I went to the gym.  I could have easily gone home.  Before starting my car in the parking lot, I asked myself, "Can I do this now?"  The answer - Yes.  I drove to the gym, changed clothes, and went into the training room.

I started testing movements.  Which movements could I do now?  DL, Swings, Burpees, Split Squats.  Cool.  The same drills I did last week. 

I did the same 350 reps workout as below.  Today, I moved the same weight, the same number of reps in 20 minutes, 10 seconds.  That's over 2 minutes faster than last time. 

Seeing a correlation?  I am.