What Can You Do Right Now?

Categories: Blog Feb 25, 2018

I ended last week’s blog titled 'Use it or Lose it' by saying the only real thing you can lose if you don’t use it is “Now.” Often times, most time really, we waste away our Nows. We are so busy being anxious about trivial things, so swept away by thoughts of yesterday or years of the past, and so sucked into our thoughts of tomorrow and our future that we actually miss living in the only real moments we are given: Right Now.

Life happens now. It doesn’t happen yesterday. Yesterday’s moments have passed away. They shaped where we currently are, but they haven’t cemented us into our current situations unless we don’t use our Now. And, life may not come tomorrow or someday far away, especially if we don’t learn how to use our Now now. The life we will have one day is built on top of the life we choose today.

This may be hard to follow. If yesterday doesn’t determine our today, how can today determine our tomorrow? Well, yesterday is gone. Let it go. If you didn’t use your “Nows” when they were current yesterday or even if you did, you are where you are. Where you are Now, what you chose to do with yourself, how you choose to be will greatly determine where you are in your future. But the future isn’t here yet and there is no life in it. So we shouldn’t keep looking for a one day or a someday that may never come and miss out on living today.

How in the blue blazes does this relate to strength and movement?

Well, have you ever met anyone that has said something like, “I just don’t move like I used to”, or “I’m not as young as I used to be.” Those statements may indeed be true, but what if they were only true because the person was measuring where they are Now verses where they were Then, and they aren’t doing anything Now to move better? Being stuck in Then keeps them from moving better Now. What if they took advantage of Now, learned how to Press RESET and actually start moving better then they did back Then? What if their Then wasn’t even that great and they are using their subpar experience of movement as their golden standard for how good they used to move, completely missing out on what they can do today to move better than they ever did before? Does that make sense?

Heck - pardon my language - but living in the past like that, and not living in the moment, could completely rob their future of the joys of life they were meant to experience. Believing they have a bad knee because they injured it 20 years ago could one day lead them to a rest home.

But let’s talk about the future. Why shouldn’t we look to the future? Because Now is the only time we have. You ever met anyone that has said something like, “I sure hope I don’t end up like Uncle Joe. Only 64 and he can barely walk”, or “Everything fell apart when I turned 30, 60 isn’t looking so good…” Or something like that. Some of us get sucked into a future that hasn’t happened yet and we allow it to pull on us to accept our fate. This isn’t living, it’s idling.

Anyway, doing what you can Now and using what you have Now can actually paint a tomorrow that is full of potential versus thinking about one that is full of dread.

In OS, we often hang on the saying, “Start where you are. Do what you can. Use what you have.” Another way to say this is, “Take advantage of Now.” If you let go of yesterday, stop worrying about tomorrow, and simply move where your body will let you engage where you can, with whatever you’ve got, you may find freedom and joy in that moment, just like you did when you were a child.

A small child has no concept of yesterday and no hopes for tomorrow. They simply have the joy of self-exploration in their moments. And it is in those moments that the child builds tremendous strength. They move, they rest, they explore, and they grow in the freedom of Now.

The point to all of this is don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing. And don’t let limitations tell you about your future. Learn from your barriers. Use them to explore where you can go and what you can do. Take advantage of where you are and learn how to grab hold to Now by letting go of Then and When. You may discover freedom. Freedom to move again and freedom to be.

Its wild, but something ridiculously simple like a tiny eye movement could be the key for someone to regaining control of their posture and balance and ultimately the ability their ability to enjoy life. But something like that may only be found in the moment of starting where you are.

Here is the answer: You are here.
Here is the question: What can you do right Now?

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