I have spent the last 11 days in the beautiful city of Budapest. During that time I have worked in teams, visited some amazing places, drank some extremely good wine and have had the opportunity to confirm my human connections.
Now as I am at the end of my stay I am starting to think about my home, my job and my routine. In the midst of all this splendor I am making decisions about where I left off and how to get on with my life. I feel a rising impatience to get back into the swing of things and to push for the goals that I want to achieve before the end of the year. As I write, I am noticing the language and the words that are being transferred from my mind to the page – impatience, swing, achieve, and push. These words suggest movement outwards away from myself into the world, they suggest an effort by me to move from one place to another. I realise that I these words are part of my pattern and habit of going, going, going.
I made a split second decision to just stop and enjoy my last day in Budapest tomorrow and not project and think about all the things that need to be done when I get home. They will be done, when I get home, they are important and will have their place in the sun.
For the rest of my short time here I am committed to be in the Budapest moment, not the New York or Trinidad moment, not in the work or the house redecoration moment. Whatever I think about for the next 30 hours will only be about what is in front of me in Budapest and nothing else. Only what I see and hear in the moment will be the things that occupy my mind. All other thoughts will be chased off and shut down so that there is only room left for what is in front of me.
A bit of a challenge, and I am up to it. Being in the here and now takes practice so where else than Beautiful Budapest to practice a new habit.
What distracts you from enjoying the moment? How do you practice being in the moment?
Maxine Attong 