I once did an interpretive reading of the book “The Time Keeper” by Mitch Albom for my Toastmasters club. That book is one of my favorites and one I took a valuable lesson from . . . at least for a few days – a lesson about being in the present moment. Then I turned around and let all the planning and worrying about future events and even past ones feed me in a negative way. I was measuring life, not living it.
One of my favorite quotes from it is:
“Everything man does today to be efficient, to fill the hour? It does not satisfy. It only makes him hungry to do more. Man wants to own his existence. But no one owns time. When you are measuring life, you are not living it.”
I was thinking about this last night while I was discussing my issue of personal time management with my husband. It became clear that it really isn’t time management giving me anxiety and stress, it’s the fact that my tendency is to not be in the present moment. I am constantly planning for the next thing, thinking ahead to a fault. I am worrying about things in September and it’s May! This is my biggest struggle.
So, I have decided to really focus on being in the present moment, stopping myself from thinking ahead or replaying things past. Matthew 6:24 says,
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Raelyn Pracht 