Not so long ago I was sitting on my colleagues balcony looking out over the ocean. The weather presented a medium to heavy rain, pretty strong winds and all round grey hue which was the opposite of what I wanted to see and experience on this particular day. Being down the coast, surfboard in the back of the car it would be great for a light SW wind, slightly overcast with patches of sun and a crystal clean swell bringing in perfect peaks! Instead I had to succumb to looking out over the washing machine churching salty sea water in all directions.
At some point during our time on the balcony I turned to my colleague (Liz) and exclaimed “The weather is terrible.” She sat quietly looking out over the sea and then turned to me with some insight which I now call a ‘pearler!’
“What if,” she said, “the weather, rather than being terrible, simply is?”
The weather is? The weather is... the weather is! It made sense straight away.
Liz in a moment was teaching me a valuable life lesson. By saying that the weather was terrible I am instantly creating a label which I associate with being negative. That will determine how I feel and how I act given the state of the weather. In essence then, the environment around me has a direct bearing on how I feel. By saying the weather is I am accepting that this is simply what it is today. This gives me the chance to choose how I will work with the weather. This shift in perspective means the environment can dish out what it wants as I have the choice to enjoy every moment by simply letting go of my own ‘wants’ allowing myself to be present in the NOW and decide from there. It made perfect sense.
I remembered straight away this particular day on cycle tour. We had 191km to do. 30km in we hit this sign. For the next 146.6km we continued to cycle dead straight, not one bend! We could see the trucks coming 10 minutes before they passed us. One can’t actually explain what it feels like to be out in the middle of that ride, feeling absolutely broken and dejected and tired with nothing but a bike, hot water and thousands of Aussie flies. But that IS the situation and the only thing you can do, right there in that moment, is work with what you have. I drank the water and peddled the bike. 13 hours later I was downing a huge coke and a chomping on a massive burger. Satisfying!
Being in the NOW is about working with is around you right there and then. It may allow you to enjoy what you’re experiencing that much more. Or it may encourage you to continue and push through circumstances which are difficult.
Either way, all we have is the NOW - so why not be present and give it all you’ve got?
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Travis Gale has spent the last 5 years running his own development business in South Africa’s corporate world and is currently involved in various long term partnerships with clients across a number of industries. Furthermore he has travelled to conferences internationally hunting down latest trends and insights. Having cycled around the world and survived a tsunami, his passion for crossing borders often lends itself to an interesting blend of stories and insight. He sees himself as a ‘change catalyst’ and displays strength in facilitating insight into the right spaces. Find out more at www.appletreelive.com