Every Second Counts
Welcome to the new moment!
Every single minute of each hour that I spend time on the planet presents yet another opportunity for me to create my future. Sponsors of Alcoholics Anonymous offer the practical suggestion that an addict approach his desired recovery “one day at a time.” There are some days when I find it necessary to break this down even further and acknowledge that my power to create a ‘new life’ exists within each and every approaching minute.
Each new moment in the day becomes my time to choose how I want to spend it. I can choose to be hopeful for my future or I can entertain disappointing thoughts of my past. If I use each minute wisely, my hopeful thoughts will build upon each other to create the momentum necessary in order to reach a state of unwavering expectation toward a desirable future.
Since I am often easily distracted by my own counter-productive thoughts, there are some days when the one-minute-at-a-time method works the best for me. I have a tendency to use my head over my heart, so even with the best of intentions I will often find that my mind is wandering. Magic is more of a ‘feeling’ art than a ‘thinking’ process. When my over-active brain will not remain quiet long enough to allow my desired emotions to expand, I end up spending the majority of my meditation time telling myself to shut the hell up.
Instead of trying to work against my own thoughts and wasting precious time forcing myself to relax, I prefer to take advantage of my charged brain by directing it toward specific thoughts that will spark a desired emotion. The only way that I can accomplish this mind magic is one second at a time.
There may be hundreds of thoughts buzzing around in my head when I’ll catch a glimpse of one that elicits a desired emotion. I do not expect that I will be able to dwell on it any longer than a few seconds at first. I accept that my mind will wander off to a conflicting thought soon enough, so I quit trying to fight this meandering process a long time ago. Now I know that I have just that one brief moment to work with.
Any one thought, however brief, that sparks a desired emotion has potential. I focus on that thought like I would a target. I consciously repeat the association that I made between the thought and its corresponding emotion for as long as I can hold it. It may have been fleeting, but I celebrate the fact that it was there. Even a fleeting moment is long enough to imprint the association I made on my busy brain. Now I can recall that particular imprint and deliberately choose it again in the next approaching minute. Then I will practice thinking and feeling that specific imprint again in the next minute, and then the one after that.
I cannot make myself feel hopeful without a corresponding thought to relate to. Even if I have to sort through the hundreds of disappointing thoughts that surround it, I will isolate the one thought that can spark the emotion I’m searching for.
A few blissful seconds may be all the time that I need.
