Dr. Mom Online

Relax... and enjoy the moment!

This is a loaded topic! PTC is something my husband and I have practiced in our Wellness practice for many, many years. Simply, it means focusing on the present moment and really BEING in the moment and being fully with the person or people in your presence.

In our practice setting, we’ve adopted this way of relating to ourselves and others primarily because it helps us deliver the best care and, even more importantly in my opinion, it truly honors the person you’re with… when you’re giving them 100% of your present focus.

We’ve all heard it said, in one way or another, that just a few brief moments or minutes of focused, sincere attention and connection with someone can be far more powerful, meaningful and fulfilling than an hour of distracted, insincere fluff!

As you can imagine, this is incredibly important in the field of healing. It is easily my favorite part of being in the practice – reaching a focused, intentional connection with someone.

Guess what? I’ve found PTC to be even MORE important, now that we have children.

Life is busy! It’s easy to be distracted and become overwhelmed. It takes proactive effort to shift our thoughts and focus back to the present moment and those in our presence right now. I have to remind myself of this daily… to let go of some of the multi-tasking and distractions for some focused lovin’ on the kids!

Of course, they thrive on it. They can handle me working for long spurts at home, knowing that they can count on me to consistently put everything aside for a few minutes and shift my focus 100% to THEM!

Anyhow, that’s our focus today, the kids and I. Learning how to focus on the NOW.

I could take this “present moment” topic in many different directions. But for today, my simple message with the kids is this…

Let go of the stuff that’s bugging you about the past. If you need to fix something or apologize for something or make things right with another person… then do that. It’s the honorable thing to do. BUT, if you’ve taken the high road and done your best, yet something is still bothering you, or worrying you, or upsetting you, or stressing you out… LET IT GO!

What’s done is done. If you can’t make it better, move on!

Now, on the flip side, we talk about the future.

We can make plans, set goals, and get excited about things to come. That’s all fine. I do believe we play a direct role in shaping our lives. I do believe that what we think about, talk about, pray about, and focus on the most does indeed have a far greater likelihood of manifesting. I believe that what we stress about, worry about and are anxious about has a way of showing up, too.

I also believe that, ultimately, we are not the only ones in charge! Life has a way of reminding us of that.

Therefore, I’m talking to the kids about living within this very cool balance we’ve been given: becoming a powerful co-creator of your life by intentionally shaping your thoughts, words, choices and focus, AND… not getting too attached to what’s “supposed to happen” in the future. It’s not under our direct control.

(I know some of you would say it is… I just haven’t been able to master it yet!!)

Today, we’re talking about life as though we’re driving a boat. Yes, I should have thought of this in the middle of summer, I know!) We’re driving our boat, and we’ve been given a lot of control (free will) with the speed, steering and the general direction we’d like to go. But, there will be waves, currents, other boaters, weather conditions and mechanical issues that can change our course.

We get to decide how we’ll respond to these things… but some of them will be out of our direct control.

As long as we’re moving (living), there will always be a wake behind our boat (the past). Not much you can do about the wake. Can’t change it. BUT, you can enjoy it once in awhile by looking back there and seeing where you’ve been… or you can ski or wake board in it for fun (like re-visiting old times). If you don’t like the looks of your wake when you look behind your boat, then change the current direction or speed of your boat NOW in order to change your future wake.

Finally, enjoy THIS boat ride. Enjoy the scenery, the wind in your hair, the water splashing on your skin. Take it all in! Give great thanks for the opportunity for this boat ride… and truly enjoy the others who are sharing this ride with you.

Tags: attitude, character, focus, gratitude, happiness, present