Living in the Moment!

August is the Sunday of months.

To many, it is a month of relaxation. It is a month to go on vacation, wear flip flops, eat ice cream. For some parents, the end of perhaps a long and tiring summer with kids constantly underfoot. For some, probably their favorite month.

For teachers, however, it is a sad and anxious month. Much like Sundays, you know you should enjoy the peace of the Lord's day but you lose the moment focusing instead on the fact that it's all going to change before you can say, Amen. The proverbial calm before the storm. Or, for those teachers who lie and claim they do it for the love of the children, I supposed they also claim August is a exciting and like the Sunday before Christmas.

It's not that I actively dislike teaching. Once I get back to school, I remember it's not so bad after all. And there is a part of me that looks forward to starting new. New kids, new lessons, new chance to be better than last year. But still, the days seem to pass more quickly, my heart beats a little faster and my dreams start to include scenarios like walking into school at 10 after missing the first three periods and panicking because the classroom has turned into a mess of kids running and screaming and not listening to a word I am shouting. To be fair, it's not all August's fault. The dreams really during the last week of July. And school doesn't even officially begin until September but by then it's a reality. Like the humidity on those long days August just hangs. Heavy.

By August 13, you convince yourself that you still have time. Time to spend the day doing nothing or everything. But then you're reminded of all the things you said you were going to do over the summer and have not done. Paint rooms, buy curtains, organize "important" papers, organize email, real fun stuff. And then the heaviness is back.

But then you think I don't have to go to work today or tomorrow so why not just relax. And this is it. This is what all the great philosophers - Buddha, Jesus, Aristotle, Oprah - preach to help us achieve the ultimate happiness and peace. Live in the moment. Forget about yesterday, stop looking ahead to tomorrow. You'll never get this moment back right now. Embrace it.

Sounds great but who really lives this way? People say they do. People cheer the negative Nancy's like me on with their chipper, "just enjoy today! Don't think about what you're going to do on the first day yet! Enjoy the moment!" Really, their just suddenly chipper because they've been resenting the fact that you have had the entire summer off and really are just glad to see you join the rest of the schmucks in the working world. How can you not think back to yesterday or ahead to tomorrow? Isn't this human nature? Aren't we supposed to learn from the mistakes of our past and plan for our futures to be successful? How does one really "live in the moment"?

More importantly, what does one do when she has such pressing and profound questions? ...Look it up on the internet, of course. I kid you not, there are multiple, yes, multiple websites devoted to teaching you, yes you, how to live in the moment.

WikiHow offers you 6 easy to follow steps and even includes helpful tips at the end! I'll skip the detailed instructions and give you the highlights. 1. Take notice of the world around you. 2. Focus on whatever you're doing. 3. Smile when you wake up. 4. Commit random, spontaneous acts of kindness. 5. Minimize activities that dull your awareness of the moment. 6. Be thankful for what is. And the tips: Play with kids! (They included the exclamation point - such emphasis!) Forgive, listen to music, participate in active conversation. (I assume blogging doesn't count but I am focused on what I am doing so does this count???)

The next Google entry was an article. The author writing anonymously (?) for the Times of London takes a slightly different angle: consumerism. We are so busy trying to make the moment better, that we lose it. (He or she sights a recent trip to Namibia where the facial was too short and the massage was too long...) "If every advert promises you success if you'd only buy this car, wear this watch, acquire this handbag, then dissatisfaction with what you have and what you are is an inevitable outcome." So he or she has found something to blame for our inability to live in the moment but no handy "how to." Perhaps if he/she and I were actively involving in this conversation!

Other inspirational quotes follow: "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery.
Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present!!" Great but what to do with this present now that it's unwrapped?

eHow offers another list. Commonalities between this site and WikiHow: play with children, let go of hate/anger, do nice things for people, forget about "what if" and realize "what is". Same idea.

Maybe it's that easy. But I tend think a little looking back and ahead is human nature and not such a bad thing.

What if we could speed up time or slow it down when ever we wanted? What if it could be summer forever? What if August never ended?

Oh but wait, August will end. Today will be just as long as yesterday and just as short as tomorrow. This is what is. Forget about what if. This is what is. I hate that. Ah...I did it again. Let go of the hate! But wait, stop thinking about that, focus on what I'm doing! I have to go do something nice for someone...find some kids...

Living in the moment is important but should we really beat ourselves up if a few days (or a month) goes by and we miss the 6 step process to enlightenment? In this moment, I am focusing on the anxiety that comes with the start of a new school year. This is my moment. I'm living it.