Today, I was boiling the kettle to make a cuppa while listening to a beautifully-performed audio version of Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis, and I realized I was entirely ensconced in the present moment. As a writer, I’ve honestly set up my life so that what I do every day is something I love, so I’m no stranger to being in the moment, but elsewhere in my life, I can find it more challenging.
It’s honestly been a duck of a couple of days. The hours in Massachusetts feel much longer at this time of year, plus the national news has been weighing on me, and with Mercury Retrograde casting its shadow my mood’s been up and down. But it all gets better when I commit to the now. Duck calls it “pond-bobbing.”
Duck: We ducks like to sit on the pond-water, flippers happily paddling, and nothing can drag us from the present moment. It’s like burying your beak in a giant bowl of Quacker Pops—my fave cereal—but a duck of a lot healthier. You can’t not be in the present moment when the pond’s calm and your body just bobs on the water. Still, when the water’s choppy, I can still stay in the moment. After all, things go more smoothly if I take those waves one at a time rather than getting my flippers in a knot.
Wise, our Duck, isn’t he? Perhaps, when we deliberately create a pleasant moment for ourselves—like pouring a bowl of self-love cereal— it’s the ultimate source of self-romance. Anais Nin, one of my favorite-ever authors, wrote, “We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” Perhaps those moments when we romance ourselves, if only for a minute at time, can change how we see the next moment in our lives—and the one after that.
Don’t forget to romance yourself today, my friend.
Lots of love, Star
Romancey Pants 