Sometimes life’s just about doing what you have to do, being where you are while you are there, and taking it all in without judgment or expectations.
When you learn to experience life in those moments you begin to see that life is about experiencing all that is happening. Everything else is just the application of labels to what you see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. If something is good, bad, boring, or fun—it’s based on how you compare it to something else you’ve done. If you can remind yourself to be aware of this truth when you are having a ‘not-so-fun’ experience, you can take it all in with less judgment and more presence.
This weekend has been a lot of work for me. Not anything physically tough, but more mentally tough.
I’m back in school working on finishing my degree. It’s a journey that began in 1991 and stalled in 1993. A 44-years-old Dad who is sharing his computer with his 11-year-old daughter as both try to catch up on homework—that’s who I am right now. I won’t always be that guy. I won’t always have homework or projects to do that wouldn’t be my first choice of how I spend my time. But that is how things unfolded this weekend. And I did what needed to be done. It wasn’t great or horrible—it just was.
I snuck in a few moments of throwing the football with my 9-year-old, reading books with my 2-year-old, and commiserating over homework with my 11-year-old.
As I write this I still have to submit an outline for my final paper in my Math class—a paper I will write on fractals. And even though writing this paper isn’t something I would classify as “fun” I will put my full effort into writing it and enjoy the time I have to learn, to write, and to share my thoughts.
Because even though I didn’t get to do something fun or crazy this weekend, I was still able to be here to experience this weekend. In light of recent tragedies happening around the country and around the world, it is a gift I do not take lightly.
