A lot of people say, "One day at a time," but what does it really mean? Many years ago, A friend of mine named Ron, once explained it to me this way, "It means to live by your principles. Be in the moment. Live for today. Do the best you can do today and all your tomorrows will work out beautifully."
When I first heard his explanation, I pondered it for a moment and then I started listening to the worries in my head, questioning everything. “What about tomorrow? What about my child? What about my job? What about my future? What about....” and I rambled on about controlling tomorrow, completely contrary to what Ron had just explained.
He looked me square in the eyes, put his hands on his hips and said, “Lynette, what are you doing in God’s tomorrows? You have no control over what’s going to happen tomorrow. That’s his business not yours. All you have to do is stay in the moment, in the now. Do the best that you can do, and all your tomorrows will be taken care of."
This was another pivoting moment in my life, as I took Ron’s words to heart. From that point forward, I really started to become aware of this addiction I had called "worry" which was a form of fear. That fear came from my mother who taught me how to worry. I always listened to my mother, as young children tend to do. I filled my life with the “what if’s.” "What if this...? What if that...?” I did it so much that Jack, my ex-husband, would often mock me and say “What if the sun doesn’t come up tomorrow?” The “what ifs” were my old way of questioning things.
My new way to question was: “How do I live in the moment? How do I get into now?” I realized that I just had to sit quietly for awhile and listen to the birds, the bees, and the trees whistling in the wind. I had to be conscious of the sky and the clouds and the world around me. I just had to be present in the joy of the moment. I got to that point, fairly quickly after I stopped attempting to "control God's tomorrows," I was able to be in the moment and suddenly my world was completely transformed into a new one that I had never known existed. Time virtually stood still.
We journeyed out like to La Conner, Washington with Dr. Pranski and he hosted an exclusive, 14-person session on psychological training in business. The primary focus of his work is how to live in the moment. Eckhart Tolle frames it as “in the now.” When you are living in the moment, time stops. You're just there. Most of us have heard ourselves say, “Wow, it's Friday. How did that happen? Where did the week go?” That is a result of not living in the moment.
Of all the things I've learned in life. If I do what is good today, all the things of tomorrow will be okay. How do I know what is good today? As long as I'm not operating from needy, seedy or greedy, I'm okay. As long as I'm in the place of being neutral, not being manipulative to get something or to fulfill an egotistic ulterior motive, I’m okay. As long as I'm doing something because I love the work and I love the art of the work, I’m okay. As long as I love the art of working with people, I’m okay.
I love the challenge of creating and becoming and doing. I am in that place in my life, working one day at a time, and living in the moment. I know all the tomorrows will be taken care of, no matter what. I have lived through global political drama similar to what we're seeing today. I lived through the cold war as a child. We had bomb shelters. We were told to get under the desk during the drills in our Catholic school. It all cycles back again, but we must have faith that somehow, someday our humanity will take over. Somehow humanity will always win. Trust in that and you get out of the worry of tomorrow. I don't know what's going to happen. What I do know is that all we can do is live in the present and do the best we can for today. When we take care of ourselves and our families, everything works out. It always does.
You have the choice to not project yourself into the future. Instead, realize who you are being now.
