I woke up this morning remembering only a snippet of my dream. I am standing in a line where I am taking things – I remember a loaf of beautiful bread – Cardamom bread. And the person next to me asks me if I know what my essentials are. I answered like I knew what she was talking about, of course I know what is essential. And then she starts rattling off a list of her essentials and I realize that I missed something. It must of have been a class where people were digging down into themselves to reveal what is essential to the
Now I am fifty-seven years old, so a bit early for a retirement community – but I think that is what it was. I wonder why we wait until the end of our lives to ask ourselves what is most essential to our lives? So, I ask you, what are “the essentials” of your life?
In the past I believed that all the things in my shower and along the side of my sink in the bathroom were essential – not so sure anymore. I believed that I needed all kinds of stuff. But what I realized was this: In the past, stuff was essential to distract me from the present. I did not want to be in the present because I was either too invested in fixing the past or too obsessed planning for the future. In my crazy brain, the past was always fixable, which is not true at all. And the future was always perfect. Do I hear “unattainable” screaming from your head to mine?
Why is living in the present so difficult? For starters, I think it is difficult for me because I want to be doing six things all at once and I cannot. Therefore, I spin, either trying to figure out how to do more than one thing at a time or figuring out which thing will make me … happy, bring me peace, satisfy this yearning deep in my soul.
I wish I could remember what was on the lady’s list of essentials – because there is still a part of me that doesn’t get it – I want to steal her items, her secret for happiness. But for the life of me I can’t. So I have to make up my own list … and first on my list will be living in the present moment. And the best way to achieve this … approach it with gratitude. I am grateful for this present moment because … the sun is shining outside and it is warm and cozy inside and I have a minute to absorb the peace that brings to me. Simple as that!
What are your “essentials”?
