Saturday, April 23, 2016

Thought for the Day - Living for the Day

Sometime in cricket and many times in life, the burden of playing on till the result weighs you down. Especially if you are seemingly not yet in control of the situation. This pressure causes you to do something flashy or stupid or unwarranted because you cannot hold yourself, hold your thoughts of the future, which may not all be rosy. At times like that, what I found in classical cricketing manner, is to reduce your time span to the present. One ball at a time. All your focus on that one ball. And then the next. It's a fragile space but delicious - you are standing on fine balance between the future and the past.
Stillness
Pic courtesy - Satish Nargundkar

This is probably how most of the world lives - surviving by the minute. It makes sense.

So yesterday I decided to live this thought. Instead of worrying about a future that was hovering in the background anyway, I decided to only live the day. Open account in the morning, live with a conscious thought that I have but the day, make my choices, and live as deeply as I can. The past faded, the future became hazy, the present came into focus. It was an interesting experience because it made me choose more consciously, it make me live deeply, it allowed me to stay more grounded to life. At the end of the day it was easy to be grateful for that day, close accounts and look at the new day afresh.

There is an openness and wonder that this attitude brought. A welcome freshness. Also the danger and challenge in the time limitation. It kind of made me do what's important first. Now I wonder if I reduce it to an hour, a minute, a second. Hmmm.

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