Oh how I love my visits to
Float Nashville. A year and a half ago, I had never even heard of floating. I got off to a tricky start with my first float, which I refused to let defeat me.
Anyway, I've continued to float about twice a month to enjoy the feeling of being completely held while simultaneously letting everything go. I should have mentioned floating last week, when I gave examples and
encouraged the importance of using various media or activities to inspire us to seek change and expansion. (Click here if you missed
Resisting Change Is Exhausting.) The float tank is definitely one of my “go-to” places to relax, let go, to meditate and become malleable for
whatever’s trying to surface in my life.
During my last float, I had the sudden sensation that my session time was nearly up. It's totally dark in there, with no way to tell what time it is unless I open the tank
lid and look at my phone, which I avoid doing. I grew restless for the next ten minutes, waiting for the music to sound which lets me know it’s time to get out.
Up to that point, I had caught myself falling asleep
several times, even daydreaming, which made me think most of the time had passed. After ten minutes of restlessness, it occurred to me that I could be wrong, and that maybe I still had time left.
By wrongly
deciding that my session was nearly over, I lost the ability to enjoy a chunk of time in the float tank that I love so much. I finally decided to go back into enjoying the moment for as long as the moment lasted, and quit trying to somehow ready myself for the end. In essence, I was already missing the end, which could possibly have been the best part.
We do this in our lives.
Maybe we love our jobs, but with a
rumor of twenty percent layoffs coming, we stop enjoying our jobs and live in anxiety of being let go—even though EIGHTY percent will NOT lose their jobs. (Hello, fellow catastrophizers!)
We meet someone who
we think might be the love of our life, but we struggle to fully enjoy it, because we're so afraid it will end with our hearts in pieces. Our fear leads to uneasiness which sends the wrong signals, and if interpreted incorrectly, could actually bring the relationship to a premature ending. At some level, it’s likely they would sense something’s not quite right.
How about with our kids? They approach many milestones which bring change. We may dread their transition into greater independence so much, that we let ourselves be robbed of the joy that today holds.
As another year draws to a close, it’s easy to jump ahead into the New Year, and not fully be present for the end of this one.
