More Said Than Done

tomorrow
“After all is said and done, more is said than done.”
– Aesop

How many times have we said, even with firm conviction, that tomorrow, next week, when things slow down, when I get some time, I am really going to …..? Or how much time have we spent talking about things we are going to do, would like to do, or better yet, extolling the benefits of activities we are not currently engaged in ourselves? The latter is one that is extremely subtle and sneaky. We may even talk about it enough that we don’t even realize we no longer actually engage in the beneficially activities we recommend to others!

Rarely is tomorrow our friend. It is in relying upon the illusionary promise of tomorrow that we allow ourselves to postpone the healthy activities and changes we know are important and meaningful. Unfortunately, there are significant problems with this. The first is that it becomes a habit. The more we do this, just like anything else, the easier it becomes. Even if we have consistently put off something again and again, something we know would be extremely good for us, our minds can be thoroughly convinced that we will actually do it tomorrow, or next week, or …. ?

The other glaring problem is simply that we have a limited number of tomorrows. In fact, we don’t even know how many. As the old saying goes, “tomorrow is promised to no one.” We may have some illusion about how many years we will live, but as we all know, in reality, each day could be our last. Even if it is not our last, we can never count on our tomorrows looking like today. Things change all of the time. However, there is one thing we can always count on. The opportunity to improve our lives and develop healthy habits and activities is in the here and now.

I invite you to make a list of some of the important practices and activities you have been putting off. It may even be some healthy routines you used to do, but have let drift away. Pick one thing you can do today and make it happen. Do it, noticing how it feels to do so. Keep the list available and refer to it often so you can put them into action as well. –  John Bruna, March 21, 2016

MLP Community 1The above is a an excerpt from one the daily emails sent to the members of the Mindful Life Community. I invite you to explore our community and consider joining.

Copyright © 2016 John Bruna. All rights reserved.

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *