Children are always moving. They run as a form of play, not as a way to lower their blood pressure or to make strides toward an impossible goal, but rather, just for the fun of it. And while running, bicycling, or kicking a ball around can be an activity enjoyed by children just for the heck of it, skipping is something equated with feeling good. It is almost magical. Look at a child who is skipping and you will see someone whose attention is in the moment and who does not have a care in the world. They skip to express joy.
Children skip and they do a lot of other things, but at some point, the skipping stops. So when did you stop skipping?
Skipping is a real activity, but we can think of it as a metaphor. So you may not skip, but do you smile a lot, or do you have that “everything is fine” feeling often? Because many people are under stress today, it is more likely that you are clenching your jaw than smiling. You are likely in survival mode, walking around from stress-induced physical ailments that would make literal skipping impossible. So what can you do to change this situation? What will allow you to either mentally or physically skip again? Work on changing your mind.
It is perhaps impossible to carry your clutter files around and skip at the same time, so the next time you are feeling stressed, and your body feels tight, get clear. What you need is clarity about your life. As Power of Now author Eckhart Tolle says, forget about your life situation, and instead, just pay attention to your life. The point of this rhetoric is to bring you to the present so you realize that you are a being who is independent of the situation you are experiencing. You are only experiencing a temporary situation, even if it seems like it has been forever, or that it will go on forever. As a spiritual being, you know better. Life is transient. This present moment is melting into the past, and the future is just a millisecond away.
The Buddhist saying “winter always turns to spring” reminds us that nothing ever remains the same. So why not spend some time in the present? Stop thinking about the future, the past, your responsibilities, and what other people do or say (Use our free File It Worksheet to remind yourself of that). Just be in the present. Stop. Breathe. Reset. Then go do something you want to do.
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