The time stopping view from our lanai in Hanalei!

Slow down.  Really slow down and allow yourself to become totally present in the moment.  What do you see?  What do you feel?  Connect with all of your senses for just a moment and allow it to be exactly as it will be.  At one with your world.  At one with nature and all it’s beauty.  Let go of later, to do lists, timelines, and be totally here right now.  Feel the stress and worry simply melt away.

Just like that TV commercial where the guy is cruising along in his sports car and time slows to a standstill of the perfect moment in time.  Totally here and now in the present moment until thoughts of dinner come crashing in.  That is the moment I seek.

I am here in Hanalei on the island of Kauai, Hawaii and am doing a little self experiment.  It is the second trip here in just over a year and this is fast becoming one of my favorite places on earth…so far!  There is a tendency when we go on vacation to want to get in so much because of where we are or the limited time we have or because we may never return that we get caught up in always thinking ahead to later or tomorrow and what is to come.  We miss out on all of what we are actually doing.  Always anxious about thinking ahead, planning ahead, focused on what’s next.  Have you done this?  Hurry up, lets get this done so that we can get on to the next thing!  I don’t know exactly why this is but it seems far too common.  My goal this week is to consciously slow down and live in each moment for all that it is before I get fixated on the next.

Case in point.  This morning we went for a run along the beach just after sunrise.  It was like a picture out of islands magazine.  As I ran the waves lightly broke on the shore at my feet as I stared out at picturesque Bali Hai mountain tapering down into the ocean and it’s range of blue hues.  Almost no one else on the beach at the time.  It felt like my legs were moving independent of the rest of my body.  Kind of like I was floating along in a bit of a zone.  Not the traditional runners zone.  The beach running zone is something different.  All senses consciously connected for the entire stretch of the few miles of this run.  Amazing moment and not spoiled at all with thoughts of morning coffee or which beach to head to later or anything else.

Right now Maya is sleeping peacefully for her morning nap and I am sitting on the deck of our house overlooking the lush green mountainous interior of the island.  The morning birds sing their beautiful songs as I type.  A frog has jumped from the pond to sun itself on the rocks nearby.   As I slow even further I focus in on a tree and a small gecko or lizard of some type climbs the trunk perhaps in search of a morning snack.  The smell of the morning dew and the lush tropical plants permeates the air.  There is a constant buzz of some type of critter that otherwise blends into the white noise of the surroundings.  A cardinal flies up and lands on the deck fence.  What an absolutely beautifully bright red bird.  For this moment of time there is nowhere else I need to or want to be.  All the senses are consciously connected to my surroundings and taking in the beauty of my surroundings.  Certainly I have several things I would like to do on this particular trip.  Some simply come with deciding to do them then going and doing them.  Some are dependent on the others we are here with and planning together.  While others are dependent on factors beyond my control such as the wind patterns and strength.  In this moment none of them matter.

Personally I find when I am spending more of my time focusing on here and now and less time anxious or worrying about what will or might be, especially if I cannot control it or when that might be I am much happier, more peaceful and calm, and certainly less anxious and stressed about life.  I also find I am more productive and better at doing whatever I am doing.  One can argue that in paradise on a vacation it is easy to take this approach without the worries of the day to day happenings in the world upon you but I do believe that most people can shift in this direction much more of the time than they currently do day to day in every day life and would gain something as a result.  Give it a try and let me know how it goes.  I hear Maya beginning to stir.  Time to shift to the next moment.
Aloha!