#481 Reclaiming Lost Hours

Before we bid farewell to George Leonard, how about ONE more little idea from the Aikido (and life) master?

This might be the most important Idea from his work we discuss, so sit up straight. (I just did as I typed this. 🤓)

Here we go…

George tells us: “Could all of us reclaim lost hours of our lives by making everything—the commonplace along with the extraordinary—a part of our practice?”

That’s Today’s +1.

Could you reclaim “lost hours” of your life by making EVERYTHING (!) a part of your practice?

I know I can.

And, we’re not just talking about the obvious time-wasting stuff that needs to go like that 25 minutes you might be wasting every day (on THAT app) that adds up 2 YEARS of your life.

(btw: That 25 min per day = 2 YEARS of your life blows me away every time I read it. And I read it often because it’s currently on my whiteboard staring at me all day every day!!)

And… We’re not just talking about doing the dishes and folding the laundry and all the other mundane tasks that can fall into “lost moments.”

We’re also talking about those micro-moments at a stop light when you can smile, practice taking a nice deep breath and see the world around you with a heart full of gratitude.

And, a couple examples for me this morning include taking a few of those nice, deep, smile-breaths while holding my little daughter Eleanor as our water jar filled up.

(btw: We’ve gotten feedback that you like the little personal product details I share so here’s another one: We’re kinda water snobs and exclusively drink Mountain Valley Spring Water. 🤓 We have over twenty-five, 5-gallon bottles in the garage and filling up our in-house pitcher from the big bottle in the garage (usually with Eleanor in my arms watching it flow) is part of my morning routine. 🤠)

Then there was the moment before we headed to the park when Emerson ran back into the house to get some wipes for our post-park hand cleaning. Another opportunity to stand up a little taller (gently pulling that thread through my head) and take yet another calm, deep breath.

All of which leads us to Today’s +1.

Let’s see if we can reclaim a few more of those potentially lost micro-moments and make them a part of our Optimizing practice!!!

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