I was involved in a highly competitive, cut-throat game of Seinfeld Clue this past weekend (OK, maybe it wasn’t cut-throat… but it was serious). Each of us moved around the board, taking note of what we watched other people doing. Each player trying to quickly figure out first ‘who done it’!

At one point my sister asked me to see a card: “It was Elaine with the big salad in Jerry’s apartment”. I had to search through the cards in my hand and if I had one, show it to her.

Well I thought it would be funny to put the card right in her face- like stick it up into her eyeglasses. As soon as I pulled the card away, I said to her, “Gosh, I’m sorry. That was really annoying, huh?” We both agreed that it was and of course she accepted my apology as it wasn’t that big of a deal.

But right in that moment- it hit me. Present moment awareness is as small as second-by-second moment experiences.

I’ve shared a lot of blog posts, articles, videos and trainings about being in the present moment. I’ve taught a lot of nurses how worrying about the past or fretting over some future doesn’t do us any good. Being in the here and now is what it’s all about. It’s our current moment that creates our future. And how telling was this simple lesson I experienced with my family this weekend.

Being in the moment means that very second.

Think about it in relation to your nursing work. A patient lies in bed, one moment breathing, on a monitor and possibly in pain. In that next moment, that very next second, the breath could be gone. A body lies in the bed, the same one as before, but is no longer breathing.

This doesn’t happen over days, hours or even minutes. One second a patient is breathing. The next they are not.

One moment you could be driving into work, thinking about how much you don’t want to go and how long the shift will be. The next moment, the very next second, something could totally throw you off course and work isn’t even a thought on your mind.

I encourage you to think about this the next time you hear a negative thought inside of your head, the next time you open your mouth to complain, the next time you gossip, bad mouth or speak badly about a co-worker. You won’t get that second back. Once it’s out there it’s part of your vibrational energy and that thought form, those words, they are your reality.

Can you watch what you say? Can you observe how you react? What can you do this week, this day, this moment to create an even more beautiful and positive future for yourself?

I’d love to hear what you will commit to. Leave a comment, reaction or question below. If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it using the social media buttons below. Thank you for reading and as always, enjoy your health today!