60 to 60: Being in the Present

We have some counting happening in our house. Jay is counting down the days (29) til he retires from a long career in education. I'm counting up the days til I turn 60, on the 8th of June. We're quietly counting the days til our daughter comes home for the summer. It's part of the human condition to do this, to look forward, isn't it? We plan vacations for months and look forward, someone is pregnant or getting married and we look forward, we work soul-sucking jobs for years, all while looking forward to the morning we can wake up without an alarm.

Nothing wrong with any of that. We just have to remember to take a few moments out of the day and remember the present moment. It might sound silly, perhaps even scary. Think about it, though. How often do you sit back, close your eyes, and take three very deep breaths in and out of the nose? We humans run on coffee and chemical drinks to stay "up." What if we try something different? Let's say we make a commitment to ourselves--at some point during the day--to step away from what we're doing, and just breathe. It might just be that this simple breath technique gives us the energy we are searching for in that can of Coke. Breathwork is pranayama--tuning of our life-force. In just three breaths, we can tune ourselves right up.

I mention this because of all of the counting going on. It's great to count and it's a blessing to have these wonderful things to look forward to. We just need to remember...get back to the present. That's why breathwork is so cool. It brings you right into the moment. We truly only have this one day and when we break it down further, this moment. And this moment. And this moment.

Okay, so maybe this is all about turning 60. After all, this IS a major milestone. Turning 50 wasn't too bad...I had an active 10-year old at home.

Sixty though, phew!

Time to get back to the present moment! Will you try it with me?

Here is 30 seconds of ocean footage I shot down in Florida. Take three very deep breaths while watching. That's five seconds inhale, five seconds exhale. Five in, five out. Five in, five out. Here we are counting again. Back to the present moment.

(Oh, and tomorrow is the day I'll write about the casino worker from southern India whom I recently met at a Mexican airport. See you then.)