How to be present, take responsibility, and surrender
How to be present, take responsibility, and surrender
Photo by the author
I do not believe in affirmations I do not believe in.
Like the super-self-helpy ones, such as “I am slim and fabulous.” Or: “I am rich and beautiful.” Affirmations like these make me either puke or laugh my head off in disbelief.
Then there are affirmations or rather mantras, I learned over time in yoga and meditation settings. E.g., “Om namah shivajah.” A beautiful sound that vibrates your whole body when chanted. In addition, this mantra is supposed to calm your ego. But somehow, I do not always feel so connected with popular Hindu Shaivism.
Yet there is this one sentence that evolved over time in my journaling practice, I can’t let go off. May it resonate with you:
NOW IS MY LIFE
I love all the four words equally. And even though it sounds so simple. It took me years to come up with it and integrate it in my life. May you be faster.
While being unhappy with my job and life circumstances. I used to write down NOW IS MY LIFE in my journal a lot. At the time I was constantly regretting parts of my past, and at the same time fantasizing about the future. This one sentence reminded me to live in the Now, act today, take ownership of my actions, and be open to the outcomes. At the time this affirmation got and still gets me out of a gloomy mood and back into myself and the world.
NOW
NOW, not tomorrow. Not when I finally attend a yoga retreat in the Caribbean islands, or go on a sabbatical, or win the lottery, or lose some weight.
NOW, also not yesterday. Not ten years ago, when everything was better. Not when I was younger and all the doors in the world were open to me.
NOW. NOW is the only time there is. NOW is the only time in our lives that I can shape. With shaping the NOW, I invest into the future. But I shouldn’t waste the NOW with being either in the past or in the future with my thoughts and feelings.
IS
Present tense third-person singular of be. The original and most wonderful of all verbs. To Be brings everything into existence. I exist. I am here. THIS IS MY LIFE. There is no other life waiting in the supermarket to be picked up. My life is already here. My life takes place right now. IS is very active. It is happening. I don’t say: Now sleeps my life, or Now was my life. NOW IS MY LIFE. I won’t play hide and seek with my own life. I show up for it.
MY
This is MY life, not your life, not my parents’ life, not my siblings’ life, not my friends’ life, and definitely not the life of random people on social media. Let’s never compare yourself to someone else. We are all unique. And yes, all have different starting conditions. Life is not fair.
But this is MY life. This is the only one I got. By stating THIS IS MY LIFE instead of “this is life”, I claim ownership. I show up. I take responsibility for what is mine. I do not have to follow other people’s rules or recommendations. I am not a victim. I am not here just by chance. It is up to me to do something with MY life.
Life
My affirmation ends with LIFE. I take refuge in something bigger than me, something I cannot completely control. Life is constantly changing. LIFE is responsiveness, growth, energy transformation, re-production, decay, re-birth. LIFE is waves and tides, blue sky and clouds. LIFE for me equals openness to new circumstances, new people, new feelings, new possibilities. LIFE catches me. I surrender.
NOW IS MY LIFE.
Enjoy yours. Thanks for reading.
This article was also published on medium: https://dorotheeking.medium.com/how-to-be-present-take-responsibility-and-surrender-332e11e12191