Shifting into cruise control, I let myself glide through many of life’s activities nowadays. I relax, take several deep breaths and seek a place inside where there are no thoughts, no worries, and no frets.

I’ve already done all the heavy lifting. I planned the contours of my day, knowing when I could  go on autopilot and when I needed to let the left hemisphere of my brain take over. You know, when I need to calculate, navigate and/or investigate I turn to the so-called “thinking” process. But I don’t let thoughts interrupt my breakfast while I eat.

I awake with no problem and shave, shower and dress myself, making only minor decisions in these efforts, particularly, choosing which clothes to put on. Who needs to think while running water, flossing teeth or flushing a toilet?

After getting into the car and driving to my preplanned destination of work or play, I need not think of the future or the past, but just the moment in front of me. This is my time, not someone else’s time who would use it as unwisely as I used to by daydreaming, recalling past events, or projecting a thousand possibilities of things that could happen in the future that I had absolutely no control over.

A soft calm spreads throughout my body. Stiff and sore parts start to loosen up and relax. I have no need or wish to be anywhere but where I am at the moment.

I seek this plane of awareness when I read intently or listen deeply. When I’m in this “zone,” I retain more from a book or article, and hear not only spoken words from a speaker, but more of the meaning someone is trying to say without words.

When I free myself of the noisy thoughts and outside interferences, I become more present for the environment I’ve chosen to focus on, be it reading or writing, laughing or crying, or simply standing or sitting while I wait to engage in my next series of “actions.” I am more “there” than ever before because I purposely “let go” of all that has little if anything to do with the “now.”

I focus better on the job, finding more clarity on what’s needed and what’s superfluous. There’s a great word for you, superfluous. How much of what we do, say and think is just that? Superfluous. How easy life could be if we eliminated more and more of the unnecessary add-ons that we thought so important at one time, but discovered never added one iota to our overall well-being.

Breathing in, I am at home with myself. Breathing out, I am at home with you and all the love, compassion, and sense of equanimity the best families could ever offer.

All I have to do is let go. Now cruise, baby, cruise.