100%

Living 100% out of every minute. Squeezing everything possible out of the moment. I have a thought that without keeping myself in check I maybe living only about 30 or 40% out of every minute. Without having my head here and now. That I maybe draining the intensity of the minute by thinking of what I have to do next or worry about something or other.

When I rehearsed a movie a long time ago in Paris my character was the lead and in one pivotal scene she was at a dinner table. She wasn’t saying much in the scene but a huge amount was going on in her mind. She was having quiet reactions to what was happening around her. In one exercise in the rehearsal the director asked me to basically say a constant stream of what I was doing/ thinking. I pick up the salt shaker, it feels different. I look at that strange woman across the table, she intimidates me…To be very precise about what was happening and how I was feeling as a result.

Basically the exercise in the rehearsal was to keep my mind present throughout the scene thinking fresh, relevant thoughts and its something thats stuck with me as a way to keep myself here in the moment. To really touch the objects in front of me, to actively watch people, to listen.

I believe its important to ask oneself, What could make this minute better? Music? Take a moment to put something on. Relaxing my right shoulder? Take a moment to close my eyes feel the weight in my feet, am I gripping with my toes, is my shoulder tense?

One can barrel through life in a wild mad race skipping over minutes as though they were pebbles skimming the surface of the ocean. And I think thats a shame. After all, this very minute is all thats actually happening in life right now and at the end of the day surely its called The Present for a reason. Perhaps its worth really taking the time to unwrap it.

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Comments

  • Michele August 31, 2015 Reply

    Thank you for the reminder. Babysitting an 11 month old on the move keeps me pretty focused moment by moment. But I’m not always babysitting.

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