It's never too late
to start the day over
it's never too late
to pick up the phone
it's never too late
to lay your head down on my shoulder
it's never too late
to come on home
~Michael Franti
I assume you woke up this morning.
If you did, that means you had a chance to start over. If you wake up tomorrow morning, you have another.
(If you didn't wake up this morning I'm guessing you have more pressing concerns than reading this blog.)
When you're learning to meditate one of the techniques you may encounter is "coming back to your breath." You sit and focus on the in-breath and out-breath, perhaps even counting them. When you're distracted by thoughts, which is pretty much inevitable, do the great sages tell you to throw down your mala and give up?
No. They say, "bring yourself gently back to your breath and start again."
It goes that way for a long time before the practice begins to sink in. Inhale, exhale...oh, look, a bunny!...wait...inhale, exhale...inhale, exhale...I should paint this room...wait, start over...inhale, exhale...sometimes I feel I have to (BOM BOM) get away, I have to (BOM BOM) run away...shit. Okay...inhale, exhale...
As with meditation, so with life. As long as you're still alive, you can start over. A season of sorrow can give way to a season of joy, or at least a season of recovery, day by day, choice by choice. No matter how often you've screwed up in the past, you have another choice right now. You may make the positive choice right now and a less-than-positive one in ten minutes, but after that you get to try again.
The best part is, you don't always have to start from scratch. Often it feels like you've completely screwed the pooch and are back at zero, but before you begin again, ask yourself: what did I learn from the last try? What can I apply to the present moment to help me stay on course this time?
Perfection is not the goal of life. Evolution is. We will never be perfect, because as we evolve, the whole universe does, and "perfection" evolves too. But who says perfection is something to reach for anyway? It's boring. It doesn't move. I want a life that moves, and to move is to change.
Rock your imperfection until you fall over in a sprawl. Then shake yourself, get back up and keep on dancing.
Sometimes all it takes to get back in your personal groove, whether that's a meditation practice, an exercise routine, or whatever, is to just pick one thing to start doing again and lean into it gently, letting that one small change tip over another and another.
As long as you're breathing, the gods are saying, "Try again. You've got time."
It's never too late.
to start the day over
it's never too late
to pick up the phone
it's never too late
to lay your head down on my shoulder
it's never too late
to come on home
~Michael Franti
I assume you woke up this morning.
If you did, that means you had a chance to start over. If you wake up tomorrow morning, you have another.
(If you didn't wake up this morning I'm guessing you have more pressing concerns than reading this blog.)
When you're learning to meditate one of the techniques you may encounter is "coming back to your breath." You sit and focus on the in-breath and out-breath, perhaps even counting them. When you're distracted by thoughts, which is pretty much inevitable, do the great sages tell you to throw down your mala and give up?
No. They say, "bring yourself gently back to your breath and start again."
It goes that way for a long time before the practice begins to sink in. Inhale, exhale...oh, look, a bunny!...wait...inhale, exhale...inhale, exhale...I should paint this room...wait, start over...inhale, exhale...sometimes I feel I have to (BOM BOM) get away, I have to (BOM BOM) run away...shit. Okay...inhale, exhale...
As with meditation, so with life. As long as you're still alive, you can start over. A season of sorrow can give way to a season of joy, or at least a season of recovery, day by day, choice by choice. No matter how often you've screwed up in the past, you have another choice right now. You may make the positive choice right now and a less-than-positive one in ten minutes, but after that you get to try again.
The best part is, you don't always have to start from scratch. Often it feels like you've completely screwed the pooch and are back at zero, but before you begin again, ask yourself: what did I learn from the last try? What can I apply to the present moment to help me stay on course this time?
Perfection is not the goal of life. Evolution is. We will never be perfect, because as we evolve, the whole universe does, and "perfection" evolves too. But who says perfection is something to reach for anyway? It's boring. It doesn't move. I want a life that moves, and to move is to change.
Rock your imperfection until you fall over in a sprawl. Then shake yourself, get back up and keep on dancing.
Sometimes all it takes to get back in your personal groove, whether that's a meditation practice, an exercise routine, or whatever, is to just pick one thing to start doing again and lean into it gently, letting that one small change tip over another and another.
As long as you're breathing, the gods are saying, "Try again. You've got time."
It's never too late.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is such a beautiful and timely message. I try to remember these things every day, but it seems to get lost in the clutter of everything else. Thank you for reminding me to learn from bad days and to grow in good ones.
Posted by: Jaka Merriman | September 14, 2009 at 04:19 PM
Wow!
This was amazing! So beautiful...
Posted by: Mary | September 15, 2009 at 04:03 AM
Perfect timing for me. (You did write it just for me, right? )Steadfast Reminder. Life saver. Thank you.
Nairn
Posted by: Nairn Galvin | September 15, 2009 at 09:27 AM
Thank you! Just in time for one more choice...
Posted by: Vildra | September 15, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Woo! *grins*
Thank you so much for this, and I wish I'd got to reading it sooner- better late than never! (I have so much catching up to do, LOL).
Posted by: Danmara | September 28, 2009 at 04:35 PM
I'm reading this again for the I-don't-know-how-many time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Posted by: Stone tree | November 26, 2009 at 10:18 PM