Our habit of always focusing on the future and rushing around to make sure it will be okay is both exhausting and never-ending. We have forgotten how to stop body and mind, and many of us can’t even do so when we try to fall asleep. Our life consists of continual effort, which we perceive as necessary to insure our survival. We’re running so scared that we daren’t pause, not even for a few moments.

Is this either the healthiest or most productive way to go through life? The unremitting pressure we experience because of our headlong lifestyle gives rise to a host of mental and physical maladies. Further, as hard as we try, we never seem to get well enough ahead, and so remain insecure and unhappy.

Perhaps a few moments of stopping the rush, of restoring energy and gaining some perspective, might be valuable. Maybe a pause to catch our breath and survey the terrain might be useful for our strength and direction when we reenter the race. And maybe the time we spend being peaceful and present might be a reward in itself, a short, sweet respite from the daily dash. Maybe, if we pay attention for a minute, we really can smell the flowers.

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Entire introduction from I Know I Should Meditate, But… What You Can Learn About Health and Happiness in Ten Mindful Minutes a Day by Spencer Sherman, Ph.D. This book is free to download from: http://www.spencershermanphd.com/id4.html

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