Be in the moment…Focus on the present
Journal Activities:
Turn on some inspiring music, light some incense and get out the art utensils of your choice: pencil,
crayons, color pencils or pastels out and decorate the front of this new journal (arriving in the mail). Do
not plan what it will look like just be in the moment and follow the beat of the music and let your heart
create it.
Each day in this journal write down one thing in this moment you are grateful for in your life.
Each day in this journal write down something that is important to you or about you that what you want
your future significant other to know about you.
Pack your decorated journal and a snack into your new bag (arriving in the mail.) Find a quiet spot at
a park or nature preserve with inviting lush grass…lie down on the blanket, close your eyes, breathe
deeply and just listen. Let the thoughts that enter come through and flow out, don’t hold on to any one
thought let them keep going. Feel the earth below you, the sun and breeze on your face and just listen
to the sounds around you. Tense all your muscles and slowly release them. When you have relaxed long enough write down how you felt, what you smelled and heard and the thoughts that passed through.
Books:
It has been a long time since I have read this book but remember it being about living in the now. Read
The Tao of Pooh and use your new bookmark to mark the page of a new revelation that comes to you
while reading. Share this revelation or 3 things you were reminded or learned by reading this book and
how it applies to your life in this moment.
Just Drive:
Pack a bag and grab your camping gear, food and drink, a map of Idaho and surrounding states, good
music, and your journal. Do not plan ahead: Pick a direction and drive. You cannot get lost because you have no destination. Turn right when you feel like it and left on a whim, follow a sign for a city name or natural wonder (mountain/waterfall) that sounds cool. Enjoy the scenery, stop along the way to take pictures, buy veggies, picnic, and see a road side attraction: like the world’s largest ball of twine. Just enjoy the journey, no stress of where you will end up and no plans or goals of being somewhere by a certain time, just drive. Write in your journal about your stops, your feelings of having no plans and just totally being in the moment.
*This can be altered to make it a day trip or weekend trip /with or without a friend/
Please adhere to all road and traffic safety rules and please don’t drive too late at night or if you are
tired. Also due to the shortened month of August this activity may be moved to another month as time
permits.
Puzzle:
On each piece of the puzzle write a word that describes Shannon, the Shannon you know you are and
what you appreciate and have in this moment (6 pieces). Then write words or phrases of who you
want to be and what you would like to have in your future (6 pieces). Decorate the pieces and then
each day put a piece of the puzzle together thinking about the word or phrase you wrote on the piece
and appreciate who you are in this moment . On day 12 contemplate and write in your journal about
how these individual unique pieces of the puzzle come together to make a whole complete picture of
Shannon and sometimes in life it takes awhile for these pieces to come together to make the whole
picture.
Farmers Market:
Bring your new bag (arriving in the mail) to a local farmers market and fill the bag with wholesome
nutritious food for one meal. Be in the moment while picking out the veggies/fruit: Feel the produce/
smell the produce/listen to your stomach and buy what sounds good and feels good. Prepare one meal
using only what you buy from the market. I like the idea of continuing the be in the moment while
cooking the meal: improvise the recipe; go off of taste and smell. No other thoughts at this time, focus
only on the food.
Call a Friend:
Choose one (or more) friend(s). Call them and just listen. Make it about them, do not think about how
what they are telling you affects you or relates to you, what you are going to say next or how what they
are saying makes you feel of what you have or don’t have in your life. Just listen and be in the moment.
Listen. Make it about them.
Flying Wish Paper:
In your journal write down at least 5 things you are grateful for and appreciate now in your life
There are three sheets (arriving in the mail). Use a pencil.
Using one red sheet for each focus on and write down:
1. Concerns/burdens/old baggage you want to let go of
2. Wishes/dreams/desires for immediate future
3. Wishes for family and friends
Focus on your wish as you roll the red paper into a tight ball –size of a marble
Unwrap the red paper and smooth it out (crinkly but flat)
Shape the colorful bird paper into a tube by wrapping it around your index finger (diameter of a
quarter). Use the circle on the bird paper as an approximate guide.
Stand the tube upright on the Wish bird paper and touch a match to the top edge. Don’t blow out the
match in the direction of the tube. The paper will burn in a flame and then lift off and take your wishes
to the heavens!
Tea and Cookies:
With a clear mind brew some tea from Laos (arriving in the mail) and buy some thin cookies(ginger thins are best) but plain animal crackers work as well. With this activity it is hard to think about anything else because you must concentrate on the fine art of cookie dunking in hot tea. Clear your mind, take a cookie and learn the fine art of dunking your cookie into the hot tea without it crumbling into the tea (cookie must be soft but not crumbling). It is a fine art! Eat and enjoy !
Lunch for a Stranger:
Option #1: A part of being in the moment and appreciating the “what is” (ex: having a job with money
coming in) go to a restaurant like a Denny’s where older people who may be living on a fixed income
dine. Go to the register and pay for an elderly person dining alone (no need to say who it’s from or tell
the person). Just pay the persons bill at the register.
Option#2: Ask to join the lone elderly diner and pay the bill, getting to know a new person in the
process.
Diversity:
Knowing diversity is important to you research volunteer opportunities that will allow you to work with
and get to know people.
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