Days of the week or Which day you’d rather kill off?
If we had a superpower to strike Monday off the calendar we would immediately do that! Better yet – all the Mondays in the world! Well, just like some of the airlines simply skip the seat number 13 on the planes – so that there were less chances of bad fortune. Meanwhile, calendar without Mondays should guarantee less stress at work, right?
Honestly, a fair thing to do would be to lop off a part of Sunday as well because moody thoughts start gathering in the afternoon. The middle of the week doesn’t bring happy thoughts either. What is left? Several golden hours of Friday when the burden of the whole working week rolls down off the shoulders and a merciful weekend brightens up before! (I wonder, how do we manage to grow wings on Friday when we can barely crawl back home after the work on Thursday evening?). Alrighty, let’s do the math: during the week we have up to two days which make us completely satisfied about our lives. Five days of the week we just exist and even push them fast forward. Only two days we live. Oh well…
Slicing life into “lucky” and “unlucky” weekdays is a common feature of most people. Another example of such kind of time management is work and holidays. Eleven months we spend daydreaming about 30 days of happiness. However, isn’t it often only about … waiting? The value of one month equals to waiting or to expectations wrapped into fantasies, to be exact.
Expecting that life will change during the weekend or holiday and that they’re much more valuable than the other days of the week proves that most people choose to exist but not live life here and now. Meaningful past events are of the great importance for us. Moreover, we’re anticipating for the future by putting our all expectations into it, yet, we don’t relate ourselves to the present moment. We weren’t taught to feel and cherish the moment of the present the way Eckhart Tolle puts it in his book “The power of now”. The past seems nice, because it probably was nice or we just want to think of it this way or boast others about it. Our history is necessary because it is the barometer that measures us and other people according to the things we did and lives we created. Although it’s just the cover of the book which takes up so much of our time. Future? It’s fantastic! It actually is so because we decorate it with our hopes and dreams. The illusion of the future is vital for us as it is a great motivator of life. But when you stop and think of it, you realize that only perceiving yourself in the present time you can truly act and influence your past and future. Lao Tze eternalized the consciousness of the present in these sentences: “Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” Only we are responsible for our perfect tomorrow by creating it today.
There are several reasons why we are not in the alignment with the moment of the present which gives us a clear and conscious image that we are here and now. For instance, you do the job you hate and live a life you are not satisfied about but you don’t take the responsibility and are not willing to make the change. It is much more pleasant to spend time diving in the sweet memories of the past or wonder in the fantasies of the future this way trying to escape your own reality that we create ourselves by consciously or unconsciously making steps for it or doing nothing at all.
Everyday chores is another reason why the present is often hard to grasp. We sort of become like little robots carrying out our obligations. Even the things that might indulge we do automatically and fast, really fast as if somebody were standing behind with a stopwatch and, good grief, if you don’t make it… The world will explode! BOOM! Well, why don’t we let it happen? Due to everyday routine we become dull. We don’t feel ourselves. We forget our existential goals, existential obligations, I should say. Constant projection to the past and future is, in fact, one of the key features of the Western culture. Conventional time is the agreement of mankind which helps us to structure overlapping realities of most people. It shouldn’t have anything in common with our personal present experience though. You surely have experienced times when few minute emotions felt like an hour and an hour felt like a week. Every day we can live in the eternity of the delightful moment. Living here and now a saying “live like a child but don’t act like one” finally makes sense. Living in the moment encourages creation, activeness, develops responsibility for the creation of your own future which does not depend on a spouse, parents, children, boss or financial state we tend to put the blame on for our unfulfilled expectations. This way we let the external situations model our life without giving ourselves a chance to feel the power of mind, indefinite potential of soul and courage and live your own legend.
When you learn living here and now, whatever it is – Monday or another day of the weekend, you won’t feel loosing an important part of your life. Isn’t it sad to confess that the greatest part of your life comprises of… annoying nitty-gritty and you’re simply trying to push it forward and your whole life too! Living in the moment, creating yourself now will help you feel pleasure during every day of the week. Maybe you will add your personal eighth day to the week? I wonder what’s the feeling on the Eighthdays? It’s not a secret that very often those ideal anticipated weekends don’t come true because most likely we pushed them forward as well, due to inertia. So, How are you feeling NOW? At the moment! What do you feel? Inhale. Exhale. Everything you experience is your priceless life. Consciousness allows us to live here and now, so wake up and observe yourself, things you like and things you don’t. Train your inner gourmet of sensations and luxuriate on every day of the week.
