One Day at a Time
What does it look like to live one day at a time? In this busy, faced pace lifestyle that we have adapted and accepted how are we to make sure we have a plan but yet be in the moment? This phrase has become like an ancient relic only to be pulled out of our consciousness when we remember enough to slow down.
Give us today our daily bread
Mathew 6:11 NIV
This was a phrase I was introduced to when being forced by divine intervention into the front row seat of Alcoholic Anonymous. There are plenty of great catchphrases in the rooms of AA meetings but none as concrete and absolute as this one. To tell an alcoholic or addict you can never have a drink again or engage in your drug of choice for the rest of your life seems like a daunting task. Stepping back and looking at managing anything for just a day at a time seems much more manageable. Until you actually put it into practice.
The mind in any day in any moment wants to pull in all sorts of directions distracting, worrying, elated, grasping, wondering, and daydreaming away from each and every beautiful and precious breath. To talk about yoga and not talk about the breath or presence is well… probably not yoga. So I see these two as a perfect compliment. One day at a time and one breathe at a time.
I am a Christian and a yoga teacher and have been both for over a decade now. I have studied and put into practice both of these life paths. I also have had the privilege to be relieved of the obsession to drink and use alcohol or drugs now for about the same amount of time. Grace be to God. Funny how all of those gathered momentum around the same point in my life. Coincidence? I think not. I have learned through the practice of yoga the best place to start is with your breath. The Yogis believe the breath to the most powerful and life-enhancing tool. Makes sense as we know that when we are anxious our breath quickens and when we are at rest the breath is slow, deep, and easy. This lack of breathing properly has obvious effects on our health and vitality in body and mind. Well, you don’t have to be a person in recovery or a yogi to put this concept into practice.
Looking back to the beginning of the bible what happens when Adam is being formed?
Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis 2:7
Seems that God the Maker of all things needed to start his most beloved creation with breath as well. I am fascinated looking at the things I now know about the practice of yoga and how it all ties back to the bible.
Ok, so what does the breath have to do with putting into practice the phrase one day at a time? When we practice turning our attention to the invisible attributes of our lives and really slowing down long enough to literally take a deep breath, suddenly space is created. Space between our thoughts, space to slow down and literally smell the flowers. More importantly, space for us to awaken to God’s presence. How are we to be living a day at a time, one breath at a time when all of our time, energy, or thoughts are what I like to call ‘future tripping’ or reliving the past? When I take the time to do my practice of paying attention to my breath I give thanks to God for it. My thoughts have become captivated by this living breathing miracle of life which is all powered by a God who loves me. That is enough to overshadow some low-level thinking at least for the time being.
Yoga helps us to remember that God breathed connection to him. His power in and through us. Yoga’s literal definition is ‘union’. When this space is created to slow down, breathe deep, and remember he is the one who created us and our breath in us this alchemy takes place. Suddenly we realize God is doing for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. It’s a beautiful thing to think that I can partner with the Creator of the universe in this gift of breath and life. The benefit becomes this deep moment of presence, his presence and we can remember for now ‘it is well with my soul’ before returning to the rat race and back into spiritual amnesia. This brings me to my next tip for the practice of living one day at a time.
I always tell my student and this is another catchphrase in AA ‘Keep coming back.’ This can translate through all streams of life when the ‘committee’ of the mind as I like to call it is pulling us out of the present. We keep coming back to the breath and keep coming back to God. Really putting into practice the art of this verse
“Be not conformed of this world but be transformed by the renewing of the mind…” Romans 12:2
The art of mindful breathing, being in his presence, and renewing the mind is always there for us. It’s just up to us to remember, be still and keep coming back.
Take a moment. Plant your feet on the ground, sit tall and breathe deep. Think of nothing else but this breath and the one who gave it to you. In this space, you have created and the breath you have acknowledged know you are inviting Jesus in. He will be the one to meet you, calm you and direct your path. Press into the power of his breath in, through, and all around you. This gift is literally right under your nose. Keep coming back to the breath, keep coming back to God and remember one breath at a time, one day at a time.
‘Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog- it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “if the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that” James 4:13-15