My grandson is here for a visit (his mom too), and I was immediately reminded of how he always seems to live in the moment.
My daughter, Sarah, and grandson, Liam, flew into Providence from Corpus Christi, Texas on Friday. They had pretty good flights although it was a long day. There is just no easy way to get here from Corpus Christi. I picked them up Friday afternoon and didn’t have too much traffic going over the good ole’ Washington Bridge.
It is so great to see my little buddy!
For those that don’t know, I provided daycare for Liam for about a year-and-a-half when they were living in Virginia Beach. When it was time for my daughter to go back to work, I offered to take care of Liam until he got a little older and then he would go to daycare. That was January of 2020. And then came March 2020 aaaannnnnddddd Covid. The plan was for me to be there for six months but that turned into 18 months. Needless to say it was an adventure but I did enjoy my time with my little buddy.
You can read all about in the “Raising Grampy” columns I wrote. I mean, Liam wrote.
As I was saying….
I am always amazed, and somewhat envious, about how he always seems to living in the moment. What matters is what’s right in front of him. Who he is with and what you’re both doing.
How I wish I could do that!
I try. I’d like to think I’m getting better at it.
I was wondering what the opposite to “living in the moment” was. The only thing I thought of was “living in the past” and “worrying about the future.” I’m not sure if that’s natural for us once we start going to school, then work and then parenting but I do know that I certainly spent a lot of time doing it. Obviously we plan for the future but I have recently realized that I spent far too much time thinking and worrying and not enough time enjoying what was going on right in front of me.
It is such a joy to watch my grandson. His focus is on the “now.” What he’s doing and who he is with. True he is just in preschool and there aren’t any tests to worry about. And he just started tee ball and soccer so they really don’t worry about the next game against a tough opponent. They just “play.” Then they get ready to play something else.
There is certainly no lack of articles or blogs about living in the moment.
A recent post on Reddit asked “Why is it so hard to live in the present moment?” One poster said, “Because it’s impossible. It’s impossible to “live in the present” when you’re presented with deadlines, bills. And it’s impossible to just neglect past trauma by saying “live in the present.”
Psychology Today” offers “Six Steps To Living In The Moment.” They include:
- To improve your performance, stop thinking about it. Whether it’s your golf game or dancing at your niece’s wedding, just enjoy the moment. Stop obsessing.
- When you find yourself worrying about the future, stop yourself and focus on what you are doing right now.
- To make the most of your time, lose track of it.
Hopefully you’ve had times when you were “in the zone.” You were just so focused on what you were doing that you didn’t notice anything else that was going on around you. I’ve had that happen a few times and, I have to tell you, it is an amazing feeling! Nothing else matters except what you are focused on.
To anyone who consistently “lives in the moment” I have to salute you and I hope I can grow up to be just like you.
For now, I’ll just enjoy my time with my little buddy. We watch “Paw Patrol,” play in the backyard and go to the beach.
He likes to play Chess. Of course, we play by “Liam’s rules.” The Rook is called “a castle” and the Knight is “a horsey.” Oh and a Pawn can move like seven spaces at a time and Grampy always loses. Just wait my friend! I’ll get you some day!
Oh and if I seem distracted at all this week I’m just trying to focus on this little guy in front of me. One thing at a time!
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