Contentment – the Hallmark of Living in the Moment

“Contentment is the hallmark of living fully in the present moment”

Carol Kent

Do you sometimes find yourself discontent?

I do. Sometimes.

For 12 days after my fall (HERE)- I was confined to the house having to be pretty still so my darn ribs would recover.

And I despise being still.

Every morning for days, I got up early because I was so sore from sleeping sitting up in one position. I hobbled around holding my side until the pain medicine kicked in.

One morning after Mike left for work,  I looked up the flight of stairs leading to the guest room. Just an hour before I fell, I’d spent the day taking everything out of the guest room in preparation for my next project. The walls looked like a patchwork quilt with squares of different color paint samples brushed on here there and everywhere.

 Anxiety shot through me as I realized that The room was turned upside down and there’s no telling when I’d be able to get back to that project.

And it wasn’t just my guest room project that was delayed, because I couldn’t work,  I had to let a customer know I would be late on a sponsored project.

I’m never late on projects!

More anxiety.

I looked at my inbox and had the irrational urge to delete my entire email account.

Why would something as simple as answering emails push me into freak out mode?

After searching for something productive I could do that wouldn’t cause my muscles to spasm, or my mind to stress-out, I finally I gave up and decided to take a bath.

At that time in my recovery, a hot bath was one of the only ways I could relax my muscles.

Resigned to another unproductive day, my thoughts became toxic, all centering around the careless fall.

I can’t stand to…

I’m going to go crazy if…

I am so sick of…

Putting my computer on the bathroom counter, I pressed play on my current Audible book in iTunes, and gingerly lowered myself into the warm sudsy water.

Just as I was ready to lean back, I heard something that caused me to laser focus my thoughts…

“Contentment is the hallmark of living fully in the present moment”.

Moment. That word again.

You know my one-word for this year is moment right?

With that word, I was kind of expecting to coast through 2016 enjoying myself as I learned to unplug, quiet my mind and enter the present moment.

I pictured more Fun-Fridays with the Littles. More long dinner dates with Mike. More Sunday Suppers with the family gathered around the table catching up and laughing…

I did not imagine my lessons on living in the moment would be quite so uncomfortable.

Sinking further into the soothing water, I asked myself:

Am I content?

Then I answered myself:

What? You mean, right now? At this moment am I content? Ummm, no. Frankly, I’m a little angry and a lot anxious.

A whisper of a thought followed…

Then most likely you’re not living in the moment. 

Of course it was true.

I was worrying about the future (how can I ever catch up-the year is hardly 2 months old and I’ve hardly accomplished anything…) and fretting about the past. (how stupid was I for falling in the first place- I know better than to be so careless…)

That afternoon, I took a long bath… propped up in bed with my pups and read a book…talked to 5 year old Lucy Jean about what she did at school…watched TV with Mike and fell asleep early.

Those moments were, as my Gramma used to say, “nothing to write home about“.

But those moments were stress and anxiety free my friends.

I’m not going to tell you that since then, I’ve been non-stop content and living in the moment. But I can tell you that since that afternoon, when discontent creeps in,  I make an effort to reorient myself and step into the present moment.

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Other Heart Posts: All Things HeartFelt HERE

Lessons on Living in the Moment:

1- God’s grace is only found in the present moment- HERE

2-Contentment is the hallmark of living in the moment-This Post!