Enjoy the Ride
The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
-Albert Einstein
So this past week was a holiday for most of us. For me, it started with a yoga class led by Keith Fox (www.buddhaloungeyoga.com) in Delray. His teaching style is free flowing with mellow groves and challenging yet attainable asana combinations. The room was kept to the same temperature of the outside and for South Florida that is around 85 degrees. Keith adjusts with confidence and lends you a feeling of security to fully reach your potential. It has been a pleasure every time I can steal away for another session. For the adventure minded he hosts retreats and seminars ranging from Telluride Colorado to a Chartered Catamaran in the Bahamas with fresh food and daily yoga. What a way to break a sweat. Some yogis say that every day one should sweat and laugh, I can image that happening floating on the ocean somewhere sipping on pineapple juice with wonderful company. But I digress; please pardon the side road.
The time frame for my weekend off went from Saturday clear into Tuesday the following week. Nice. That’s 96 hours of non-office distractions. Fill em as you please. Every hour has 60 minutes; every minute has 60 seconds, and so forth and so on. Perfect even measures of time in predictable increments. I decided to take a mini trip up the coast and spend some of the 96 hours away from home. My boyfriend and I meandered along the shore and checked into a hotel room later in the day. I have to say, every moment was felt intrinsicaly. Why was that day so delicious? The day we left was eternity eaten with a candy coated spoon. Every moment was full and complete. We hung out and enjoyed the time simply. Later in the evening there was dinner and a movie, with eternity in between. In comparison the day we were to check out, I again felt every moment pass. Same increments of time and yet the percieved feelings were vastly different. Instead of enjoying the moment I had already resorted to making mental lists of projects to complete the following week. That was a moment. That was THE moment. It is funny how it takes a vacation to remove ones self from their familiar surroundings to be able to appreciate the concept of being present.
I tried to incorporate the Niyama philosophy of “Santosha” by being accepting of what the day had provided and to remain centered regardless of my environment. Try was the operative word. The two days were identical in amount of time, possibilities, challenges, and triumphs. And yet knowing one lay stretched out ripe with possibility allowed my perception to move from next to now.
Isn’t every day ripe with possibility though? If we empower ourselves to know our own meandering path along the coast we should all be able to arrive at our destination with peace in our hearts joy abound. And instead of going on vacation and coming back from vacation the thought might be to feel as though each day were a vacation. Each day is a gift to be enjoyed, fully explored and appreciated. I say we all should roll the windows down, sweat a bit, laugh and enjoy the ride. Namaste~
