“I have little use for the past and rarely think about it.”
These are the opening words of Eckhart Tolle’s book The Power of Now. I wish I could say this but the past has almost as much of a hold on me as does the future. I’m forever writing to-do lists and setting goals and as a writer of memoir and historical fiction, the past is where I live much of the time.
I’ve also been a regretful person, if there is such a term, and I admit freely that I have been prone to rumination on the chances not taken, as Lewis Carroll warned.
We only regret the chances we didn’t take, the relationships we were afraid to have,and the decisions we waited too long to make.”
Lewis Carroll
The irony is I believe everyone of us is doing our best at any time, so why can’t I cut myself some slack? So what if I never lived in Paris for a year? I may still have the chance to do that, if it’s what I want. Paris isn’t going anywhere although as I write this in 2020 a flight would cost around $5000 so I might wait a bit…
Hindsight is 20/20 as the saying goes and oh boy, yes, I would make some changes if I could give certain life events another shot. It’s not at all surprising that this is the theme of my first novel Hotel Deja Vu. I wrote the book I wanted to read; women in Paris, the opportunity to go back and do it all again…but better and in a cute dress!
I have been meditating daily for about 3 years and I get glimpses of the Power of Now. It seems a bit obvious but the present moment is all we have. What I do right now, and right now and yep, right now, is how I create my life, the tiny Lego bricks that second by second build my life.
The fine balance we walk is finding a way to live in the moment but also manage to set some goals and get work done. I love a good goal-setting session and I love seeing them get ticked off the list but I have to be mindful, as in literally, MINDFUL
mindfulness/ˈmʌɪn(d)f(ʊ)lnəs/Learn to pronouncenoun
- the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something. “their mindfulness of the wider cinematic tradition”
- a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.
So as I head into my ‘busy’ time for the year, both personally and in our business, I remind myself to be Mindful, not just to have a mind that is full!
October is almost upon us and with that comes my yearly dive into the Last 90 Days or as I’m calling it this year my Reverse Resolution. The founders of the hashtag #last90days have had a massive implosion in their personal lives but I love the concept and in my last90days of 2020 I will be doing the 5 to Thrive again.
I’ve be giving up coffee (again) and gulp, chocolate. The coffee I am confident about but the chocolate will be a challenge. Vegan chocolate will be an acceptable back slide.
Each October I also smash out a bit of #preptober action for Nanowrimo on my instagram but this year I am not 100% sure what my project is going to be. I might use this outline from 2018. Remember 2018? Such sweet Summer children we were…
One idea I have had is finally writing a plan for the romance I’ve been “working” on for over a year, working title, Mae and June. Perhaps I will start again and write it as a novel aiming for 50,000 words rather than as a novella. It feels like quite a complex story but I just can’t get it to work. I think it’s because the ‘reader’ thinks the MC and narrator is a man called Paul but it’s actually a woman, Mae, inspired by the amazing novel Less by Andrew Sean Greer.
I will have to get plotting…
Or maybe I could finish the 2nd draft of Circle of Ashes!
What is your plan for the last 90 days of this year? Survival is top of most people’s lists right now and that’s completely understandable. Where I live we have dodged most of the bullet so far so I am going to push myself but as we have all learnt this year, the universe may have other plans for me so I will continue to be MINDFUL and let the chips fall where they may!
Oh, I could have given up chips instead of chocolate for October…
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