There’s a quote by Alan Watts that had me pause to ponder.
“Stop measuring days by degree of productivity and start experiencing them by degree of presence.”
This hit me square between the eyes. Because if I’m being real, I’ve spent a lot of my life chasing productivity like it was the prize. The gold star. The evidence I was doing it right.
And I still fall into it.
Those sneaky thoughts that whisper, “Did you get enough done today?” “Shouldn’t you be using this time better?”
But presence, being here for my life as it’s happening, that’s what actually nourishes me.
Slowly drinking tea and enjoying the sunrise.
Sitting in the field and watching the horses.
Receiving a text from a friend that made me feel seen.
Taking a walk without a podcast in my ears.
None of that made it onto a to-do list. But it was real. It was full. It mattered.
This week, I’m playing with a new question:
How present was I today?
Not how much I achieved. Not how efficiently I moved through my hours. But:
Did I feel the wind on my face?
Did I pause long enough to hear what my heart was saying?
Did I let life move through me instead of trying to control it all?
Photo by Sage Friedman on Unsplash