Do you feel like you never have enough time? You might be getting ahead of yourself.
Do you find it hard to focus on one thing at a time and then get to the end of the day, week, or month in a blur of exhaustion? Do you find yourself having the same arguments with your loved ones over and over again without moving toward a resolution? Do you find that you get stuck in patterns of behaviour that don't serve you but you can't seem to find a way out?
You might be living from a compulsion to always be living a degree ahead of yourself and never actually here, embodied in the present moment.
When we are embodied in the present moment, there is plenty of time and everything is done with care. When we are embodied in the present moment, arguments become an opportunity to heal a past grievance and find deeper connection. When we are embodied in the present moment, time slows down enough that we can catch our thoughts before they manifest as unconscious behaviours.
And life becomes a beautiful dance.
It's incredibly unsatisfying to live ahead of oneself, it's like trying to dance a beat out of sync with the music. Perhaps you can feel it in your body right now - are you leaning forward? Are your shoulders hunched? Is your brow furrowed? Try rolling your shoulders back and down, tuck your chin in slightly to lengthen your neck and widen the back of your skull. Now breathe into the back of your lungs. How does that feel? Has time slowed down?
Our perception of time changes when we inhabit our body rather than live slightly in front of it.
It's not your fault, it's a habit, a learned behaviour. And so, it can be unlearned. It takes practise, and a practise is far more interesting (and therefore effective) when you create a ritual out of it. A ritual has to make sense to you, in your life. Take the cues above and make them your own. Put a reminder on your phone to check in with your body, your posture, your breath. At least once a day, ideally multiple times a day. Make it a ritual to lean back into your life instead of rushing forward to escape it.
Don't get ahead of yourself, as the saying goes, because life is so much more satisfying, even in the difficult moments, when we are embodied in the present.