When
you take control of your time, you take control of your life. You also lengthen
your life since you’re more aware of living it. To gain this control and
benefit from this awareness, you sometimes have to stand up to time and call
its bluff. Time will intimidate you if you give it a chance. It will try to
convince you that there isn’t enough of it and that it’s racing past you at
warp speed. You won’t win by arguing. Just say, “Thanks for the information.
I’m still going to sit here with this novel or notebook or newspaper and savor
every minute.”

            When
you trust yourself to use your discretionary time in ways that suit you, you
join those people who never seem to rush, yet who are invariably on time and not
panting. These are the ones who either have the time to talk when you call
them, or you get their machine. You don’t hear them complaining or gossiping or
justifying themselves. They tend to age slowly because they ally themselves
with that morsel of time that is not heading toward decline and decay. That fragment
of forever is this moment. Although we’re partial to moments that have passed
and those yet to come, this moment is the only one we really get. When we
recognize and cherish it instead of slighting it or riding roughshod over it on
the way to one more noteworthy, we receive its gift. That’s why they call it the
present.

            In
this moment, there is plenty of time. In this moment, you are precisely as you
should be. In this moment, there is infinite potential. You get to live in this
idyllic state when you refrain from worry and regret. Most of us adore worry
and regret. They’re so dramatic. Lamenting the dreadful thing that might happen
or the awful thing that did is as good as watching a soap opera and the
characters are easier to keep track of. But worry and regret are proactive
pro-agers. They’re like mental free radicals out to rob you of youthfulness and
years. When you stay in the now, you are not aging–unless you’re staying in the
now by lying in the sun smoking cigarettes.

Affirmation: I live in the certainty and safety of the present
moment. There is plenty of time.

* * * * *

 An excerpt from

Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body & Revitalize Your Spirit

copyright 2004 by Victoria Moran

published by HarperSanFrancisco