Do you ever wake up and have "one of those days" that begins with "one of those mornings" that's more akin to a "morning meh?" Okay that was wordy, but some mornings and days are simply difficult to put into words. Some days I wake up like a "Spring chicken" (not usually) and other mornings I wake up with that hangover feeling without the requisite binge. Sometimes I live with what has been called "the tyranny of the oughts." Henri Nouwen in his book, "Here and Now" sums it up quite nicely when he writes: "It is hard to live in the present. The past and the future keep harassing us. The past with guilt, the future with worries. So many things have happened in our lives about which we feel uneasy, regretful, angry, confused, or, at least, ambivalent. And all these feelings are often colored by guilt. Guilt that says: "You ought to have done something other than what you did; you ought to have said something other than what you said." The 'oughts' keep us feeling guilty about the past and prevent us from being fully present to the moment." Being present, truly present, with others in the moment is wonderful. Celebrating life in the present moment is a great experience. More important is being present with myself so that when "one of those days" arrives I can simply look at it and be about my day without the wave of "oughts" flooding in. Nouwen writes further: "The real enemies of our life are the 'oughts' and the 'ifs.' They pull us backward into the unalterable past and forward into the unpredictable future. But real life is in the here and now." Here and now. This is where I want to be. One of those days? Sure, maybe...perhaps. As I write this my ear is tuned to the sounds coming through the raised window open to the morning outside and I hear birds singing. Life is present in the here and the now. And for this I am grateful for I am reminded that there is a song in my own heart. The journey of life is all about writing the song of the heart. What song are you writing as you wake up to one of those days?
