It's Over

Forget about last year because it's over!  I heard that at a meeting tonight (thank you Ryder).
Ball-Peen Hammer Moment!  I think we all spend way too much mental space and energy dwelling on the past.  Not just last year, but last month, last week, yesterday or even last hour.  Forget about it, it's over!

I think the worst thing that we do when dwelling on the past is that we measure our future potential.  It's like an algebra problem.  If it takes X number of hours to drive Y number of miles then how long will it take to go another Y miles.  If I eat X number of calories and lose Y number of pounds... If I do X of one thing it will ALWAYS give me Y results. Not true! Not only is today not the same as yesterday, I'm not the same person as yesterday. Hopefully, I'm at least a little bit better. So forget about last year, it's over. We also can't dwell on the future because it is TOO big of a leap. All we can affect is right now so I will dwell on the daily disciplines and trust it will make for a better tomorrow.

I'm living on the eighth day, right now!

Heart
check 30 Minute Exercise
check ate fruits or veggies
check followed payoff plan
Soul
check Prayed with prayer partner
check Talked to Jeff
check Reached out to one more
Mind
check listened to audio
check read 10 pages
check blog checklist

Ball-Peen Hammer Moment

Have you ever read or heard something that made you feel REALLY stupid?  You know, those DUH times.  I call them Ball-Peen Hammer moments.  Where you feel like you were hit in the middle of the forehead with a Ball-Peen Hammer.  I had one of those in the last chapter of The Slight Edge.  It was so significant that I even uttered an exclamation loud enough for my husband to ask, “What?” from the other room.

It was actually an excerpt, so here it is in full:

Some day, when I have the time, I’m going to … Some day, when I have the money, I’m going to …

Have you ever said that?  “ Some  day ...” It’s a way we have of reinforcing the illusion that the future is safely far removed, that it doesn’t really touch us.  It’s a lie.  Not an intentional, willful deception, but a lie nonetheless.

Let’s say that, “some day,” I’m going to travel around the world.  If that’s really true, if I absolutely intend for that to happen, then I’m making plans.  If it’s not practical today for me to just up and circumnavigate, I can look at what needs to happen first, and second, and third, to end up with that result.

(HERE COMES THE BALL-PEEN MOMENT)

When I set that process in motion, the words “some day …” disappear. I’m making it happen today, right now. In a very real sense, I am already taking the trip. It may be three years before we actually take the trip, but the words “some day…” no longer apply, so I stop using them

When I say “some day …” I’m not really talking about the future.  The future is a reality that I’m connected to by what I’m doing right now.  “Some day …” is about some vague possibility that I’m not taking seriously.

“Some day …” is not a vision of my future.  “Some day …” is a fantasy – nothing more.

Here’s the damage we do with this illusion.  We give weight to our “some day …” fantasies; we squeeze some sense of enjoyment from them as if they were real – and thereby give ourselves permission to take no practical action whatsoever while we swim in the comforting sense that those some-day scenarios will move closer to the unfolding present on their own.

They won’t.  The wistful, wouldn’t-it-be-nice pretending of maybe-futures do not insert themselves into your reality of their own accord.  You’ve got to go claim them.  Ask yourself: “What is there in my life that I hold as “Some day …’?”

Some day … The eighth day of the week.  The only day that never comes.

This is the day – this one.  Right here.  Right now.

-          John David Mann, The Eighth Day of the Week

Years ago I had replaced, “when I get a-round-to-it” with “some day …”  Before reading this I had always held the notion that saying “some  day …” was being positive and hopeful.  Not anymore, I’m either planning the “some day …” thing or actually doing it, I will live on the eighth day right now!!!