Continue
When you’re watching a movie on a DVD player and you get interrupted, you may pause the player, deal with the interruption, and then hit the play button and continue the movie.
There is a life lesson to be learned here.
How often do we hit the pause button and never continue? That’s called living your life on hold, or in this case, pause.
The difference between the DVD player and life is that life goes on even though you’re on pause. Life leaves you in the dust as it continues.
When you “freeze frame” yourself, you cannot grow. You remain attached to the current scene you’re in while life has moved forward. You’re attempting to live in a world that doesn’t exist anymore. You’ve attempted to capture that one moment and extrapolate it over the rest of your life. Often, it’s been called living in the past.
It’s a static existence which doesn’t offer any of the dynamism of real life. Your life has become a snapshot rather than the continuing movie it’s meant to be.
We’ve all been interrupted in life. The John Lennon quote comes to mind, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
When we attempt to stop the movement of life we stagnate. The only place life has stopped is in our mind. That means our world view is an old map that’s a great piece of history but useless in helping us navigate to the present moment.
If your life doesn’t continue, it ends, even though you may still be breathing.
Are you on pause? How long have you been there, and more importantly, how’s that working for you?
Reminds me of a story I’ve told before . . .
I was out of work a number of years ago and had been offered a job at a salary that was less than I had been making. I was telling my friend, Paul about my dilemma. I said, “It’s a lot less money than I was making.” His reply was, “It’s a lot more than you’re making now.”
How often do we attempt to color the present with yesterday’s crayons?
The way to hit the continue button is to notice what’s going on right now – not 5 minutes or 5 years ago or tomorrow or next year, but right now.
You can only act in the present moment. No action can come out of the past or the future; action only happens now.
Tomorrow’s results can only come from the action you take now.
I will admit that it’s scary to hit the play button after a long time on hold, but it’s the only option that allows life to continue. One fear is that you will not be up to speed with a world that has passed you by. The fear instantly goes away when you choose to continue your life.
It’s similar to catching up with a dear friend you haven’t seen in a long time. After the introductory hugs and handshakes, it’s as though no time has passed.
“Continue” isn’t your only option. You can remain on pause and stay stuck in time with the mindset The Grasshopper refers to as: “If it could only be like it never was.”
OR
You can choose to restart your movie and catch up with life.
The past will weigh you down and the future can’t be counted on. The present is the only place from where you can continue.
It’s now time to play again. It’s the only way to continue.
All the best,
John
http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan
http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301
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