What I Know For Sure by Karen Yahara

What I Know For Sure
by Karen Yahara

What I know for sure — Unless you're a racehorse, you can't live life on the run.

On the surface, being present is a very simple concept. What could be easier than enjoying life in the moment, being mindful of what you are doing, and living in the now?

But scratch the surface of your daily routine and you will quickly discover how little time you actually spend doing only what you’re doing. You’re getting dinner ready for your family, but your mind is thinking back to the awkward conversation you had with your boss earlier in the day. Or you’re driving to pick up the kids at school, but you’re obsessing about plans you’re making to visit your parents over the holidays. Your mind is flying here, there and everywhere — except for where you are just at that moment. It’s as if you’re running at full speed all the time without even recognizing it.

Whether we acknowledge it or not, we’re all living with holes in our psyche. Holes generated by loss, by repeated acts of disrespect, by choices we wish we hadn’t made. And much of the running we do is running towards something that we hope will fill the holes, or running from the emotions that are generated when we allow ourselves to approach the holes, and all of the painful memories they embody.

But what would happen if you stopped running — if you just put on the brakes and stopped dead in your tracks? By this I don’t mean that you stop moving, that you stop going where you’re going and doing what you’re doing. I mean what if you just turned off the spinning wheels in your mind — the wheels that take you away from the present moment?

If we all have a finite amount of energy to expend each day, think how much more productive we could be if we focused that energy on one task at a time. Instead of letting our energy be drawn in multiple directions, being pulled outward like so many strands of yarn, why not keep that energy on hand and apply it to what is in front of us at the moment?

When we realize that the holes we carry inside don’t need to be filled, that they are in fact part of who we are, we can stop running. So take a breath, put on the brakes, and let peace find you.

Karen Yahara is co-owner with her husband, Minouro, of Sasuga Japanese Bookstore (www.sasugabooks.com) and founder of Birthday Wishes, a non-profit organization providing birthday parties to children in homeless shelters.

We are proud to be corporate sponsors of Birthday Wishes and, with the support of Best Year Yet, LLC, are working with them to carry out their strategic plan for 2005.