Day 2: Living in the moment (Dyer)

     Wayne Dyer cleverly names the title of his book, Your Erroneous Zones, but what is his definition of it?  Erroneous zones are self-defeating behaviors; they are efforts at living in a moment other than the current one.  I have heard many self-help guru's discuss living in the moment.  They say it's the key to living your life to the fullest, stress and worry free because you are not consumed with problems of the past nor worries of the future.  In this moment, there are no worries because the past has already happened and the future hasn't. 



     Last week I went on a cruise to the Western Caribbean.  On a cave tubing/zip lining excursion there was a mishap between the group and my mom and me.  We went cave tubing first before zip lining.  We were told we would have time to change into dry clothes and use the restroom.  The guide was running behind schedule and skipped this important part.  My mom and I needed to use the restroom so we ran back.  The rest of the group went onto the zip lining.  When we returned they were upset with us because we were holding the group up.  We figured they would go on without us, they didn't.  Everyone was upset with us. We were also upset because we needed to use the bathroom before another 2 hour excursion.  We were only 5 minutes behind them.  We thought it would be fine but it wasn't.

     After the zip lining, I had an icky feeling inside.  I don't like it when people are upset, especially when I don't think they understand the situation.  I remembered the many teachings of being in the moment and not consumed with past thoughts or feelings and I began to focus on the moment.  I would say, "focus on this moment.  Now, this moment.  Now, this moment."  I think you get the picture.  My feelings of ickyness went away.  This moment is fine.  I'm good.  It's the past thoughts that were making me feel unsettled and icky. You may be thinking that's great but you can't just ignore the past. That's true. I did give the situation ample thought.  I talked it out with Nate.  Then, I stayed in the moment not giving the situation much thought anymore.  This improved my state of mind tremendously instead of dwelling on the past or past guilt. This is
what Wayne is talking about. Love it!