Time always seems to go faster when we least want it to, right? Especially when school, and thus exams, new teachers, papers, and long nights are looming. I don’t know about y’all (yeah, I go to school in Texas), but I’m really hoping to make the most of the dying rays of sun-soaked summer. So, behold! Based on the book How Now: 100 Ways to Celebrate the Present Moment by Raphael Cushnir, I bring you 3 ways to appreciate the “now,” thus enabling you to appreciate the last bit of summer for what it’s worth. Read on!
1. Pay Attention
Much of How Now focuses on tips enabling you to really notice the world around you. It is oh-so-easy to numb our senses to what we see every day, and thus we take our world for granted.
Yet, with summer ending soon, the world of your last 2-3 months will change in a snap! If you’re just starting college, you may even find yourself in a whole new city or state (or country!).
So, to enjoy the last weeks in your current environment, really pay attention and note what’s around you. Check out the decorations in your room. Look at the faces of your coworkers. Make it count!
2. Be Friends with Your Emotions
Fear of having hard classes? Check. Stress over having to undergo the moving process? Check. Complete excitement for a new year? Check.
How Now really emphasizes not only paying attention to the world around you, but paying attention to you as well. For example, you should really pay attention and explore how you feel.
I know that in my life I tend to “turn off” when I get stressed. I unconsciously stop noticing my emotions and instead focus only on the thing that’s stressing me out. This is bad, because then I become numb to pretty much everything going on around me.
So, instead of letting one emotion consume you, such as anxiety over making friends this year, take time to probe that emotion and dissect how it makes you feel. Perhaps you can come to terms with it, and learn to cope with it in a better way. Or, you can learn to live with it, thus making room for other emotions.
3. Go from green to yellow. Or maybe even red
Part of the reason time passes so quickly is because we expect it to. We do all sorts of things to “pass the time,” from creating busy schedules to playing videogames. In short, we fill up our days with all sorts of things to make it pass.
Yet, time is non-renewable and, as How Now often points out, is to be appreciated. Really take time these last few weeks to slow it down and put emphasis on experiencing rather than doing. Breathe. Relax. Enjoy.
College happens fast. Don’t let your summer be that quick, too! Cherish it- you know you’ll want the memory of lounging around by the pool and letting time pass slowly to sustain you when you’re cramming for a final!
I love these methods of appreciating the “now” because they really help me to slow down and pay attention to my life. Sometimes, life becomes more about the tasks and stress instead of the living. And college should really be all about the living- you only get to do it once, right? (unless you want to be a professor and have to get a p.h.D and get to do oodles of school)
So try these out! I think you’ll really like feeling in the “now” and appreciating life for what it is. And, if you really like it, get the book How Now– there are 100 awesomely detailed, thoughtful and zany (and better-worded) ways to celebrate every moment!
There’s no time like the present to embrace the present! Happy living!
