Pathwalking 176
Today is only today.
That means that this day stands entirely on its own. No other day will be like it, for good ill or indifferent.
What does this mean? To me it is a reminder that every day is unique unto itself. It means that today’s successes and today’s failures are only here, now. They only stay with me if I choose to bring them along with me.
Every day presents new challenges, new opportunities, new ideas, new possibilities, new struggles, and a whole host of other new attributes. Every day is a chance to start anew and to approach whatever I have before me from a fresh place.
Without a doubt every new day carries over aspects of the day before, as well as visions of the days to come. I need to work on living in each day for itself, finding the magic that it has to offer, and not letting past matters or future concerns dominate the here and now.
I think we all get so caught up in the past and future that we do not give the attention to the present it deserves. We walk our paths, often recalling past success and failure with an eye to the end goal and ignore where we are today.
We give importance to specific days. Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries and the like. Weekends are empowered to hold longer hours and time for family and friends. The rest of the days, which actually make up the majority are left to just be.
Sometimes letting days just be is a matter of due course. There are days when we struggle for whatever reason to move. We get inadequate sleep, we have a work deadline looming, we have an unresolved argument to contend with and such.
When we have one of those days it can be left behind. When we have a day that does not go as we would want, when we have a day of long work hours and ludicrous people and negativity we can leave it behind. Today is only today, and that means tomorrow will not be the same.
Our unique and linear measure of time is a man-made thing. In North America we largely alter our measure of time with “daylight savings” twice a year. The hours and minutes of a day as we measure them are our own unique construct. They only have meaning because we give them meaning.
Sunrise to sunset is a more natural measure of time. I wake up with the sun and do not go to sleep until well after it has set, and repeat the cycle. My personal measure of a day runs from when I wake up to when I go to sleep (and for longer than to just take a nap).
You may not measure a day in the same way, but the fact remains that today is for today only. Everything that happens today will only happen today. Tomorrow may have similarities, yesterday likely shares aspects of today, but they are still different, and each are unique.
So what? What’s the importance of this? As I walk my paths I often over-analyze where I have been and where I am going to. In looking back to yesterday and forwards to tomorrow today just slips by. Because every day is unique and different from every other day it is up to me to make each day count. It is up to me to make each day special.
I do not need Mothers’ Day or Fathers’ Day to tell my parents I love them. I do not need Secretaries’ Day to show my friends in administrative jobs gratitude. I do not need my own birthday to learn that I am loved. Every day holds these opportunities, every day can be a holiday.
I need to put less store in the “special” days and more power in the everyday. Today will be this day alone, and I can treat it as something full of potential and possibility and face it with excitement…or I can slog through it and let it pass me by and just sort of shuffle along through routines and let life live me.
That sounds exhausting. Why put in that much effort? There are days that it does feel that way. I can’t deny that. However, I believe that like me you probably prefer to feel good not bad. Content not discontent. Positive not negative. As such how we begin, face and work through each day counts, but only if we choose for it to do so. Like all aspects of Pathwalking, this is about choice. Choose to see today for potential and possibility or choose to just let the day unfold around you or even choose to see if for annoyances and unwanted problems. The choice is mine. The choice is yours.
Even when outside forces and circumstances beyond my control impact a day, because today is only today tomorrow with be unique and different. Seldom is an entire day good or bad, and I have the power to allow a negative moment or a positive one linger and color how my day will be.
This actually requires less work than I think. When I begin today if I find myself dreading something at my job or a confrontation with a friend or bills that have to be paid it is up to me to choose to let that dread define my day, or to find something positive to focus on. This is my mind, my emotions and my actions to be taken today and I can choose to make today special, routine, or terrible.
Today is only today. What will your day hold for you?
This is the one-hundred seventy-sixth entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my personal desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Feel free to re-blog and share. Thank you for joining me.
The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available in print and for your Kindle.
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