Wasting Time Or Living Life?

I've been thinking a lot about procrastination lately. I've also been practicing a lot of procrastination lately. Mind-body connection of course.

We often think of procrastination as wasting time. This can (and often does) result in a variety of negative emotions such as guilt, impatience, anxiety, etc. What I have noticed, however, is that a lot actually happens during procrastination. For example, if I did not procrastinate on writing my dissertation, I might never have started this blog.  In fact, I might never have moved forward with my yoga practice, established Allay Yoga, or found the people that inspired me to begin writing a blog in the first place.

I will finish my dissertation. The time between writing sessions is not wasted, it is simply another part of my daily life. Well, it's actually more than that.  It's time that I spend developing another part of myself. A part that I treasure and may have never found if I did not take a little time to procrastinate.


I'll leave you with a wonderful quote from Judith Lasater's Living Your Yoga: Finding the Spiritual in Everyday Life:

"What is really wasted? Nothing. All gives me the opportunity to live in the present moment. When I do, I am patient. This realization supports even the most mundane events of my daily life. I can wait in lines, sit in traffic jams, and understand when someone is late for an appointment. All of these times--waiting, sitting, and understanding--are valuable. I can choose not to experience them as wasted time by choosing to be present and actually living these precious moments. After all, to reject them is to reject life itself. The challenge comes in remembering that I can choose and that this choice is the most profound of freedoms." (77)