Presence

Today’s lesson in archery class was follow-through. I teach students to anchor the draw in the same place each time for consistency, shoot, and freeze until the arrow hits the target before taking another arrow. Moving too fast makes us less accurate.
We can be so overwhelmed by our many tasks that we forget to be present in the moment and enjoy the fruits of our labors. This is simply going through the motions without presence. It is survival without living fully. Granted, licking a stamp and mailing a letter or washing another dirty dish may not be thrilling, but we can still do it with purpose and with presence. These mundane activities can help us transition into other more difficult tasks if we allow ourselves to use this time to focus only on what we are doing instead of our minds wandering to the past or what is next.
Enjoy those moments in life when you accomplish something, mundane or important, before moving on to the next thing. Listen to the arrow in the air, hear it land, see it quiver, feel the experience in your whole self, then go for the next one.