Living in the Now

Yesterday was an awesome day. Somehow I made it through most of my emails. I've had a lot of trouble keeping up with email over the last few months. So cutting them down to under 40 was amazing to me. There was that nice feeling of accomplishment. Now I just need to do the same with all those on myspace.

It wasn't all work though. In fact, it was mostly a day off. I told my friend Deb that we would hang out. So we went for a walk in the botanical gardens and then after getting too hot, we drank margaritas at Chuy's. Then we heard that Los Lonely Boys were performing at Blues on the Green, a free event at Zilker Park. That is right by Chuy's so we walked over there for the show.

It was a packed evening the opening band, featuring the son of Doug Sahm, was nothing special, but Los Lonely Boys were fun. It reminded me of 4th of July too. I noticed then that there were a lot of people who didn't seem to experience the fireworks or the concert. Instead, they tried to capture the experience.

Isn't it funny how that works, especially with the age of digital cameras and video cameras and cellphones. It's so easy to not “live in the now”. I found myself checking my cell a lot too.

I think that's really one of the things I love about Europe. In Ireland and Italy, I don't have a cellphone. Sometimes I didn't even bother bringing out the camera. Instead, I have a bigger habit of just experiencing. I like that better. It makes it easier to think and expand your mind. I find that's when I start writing. Again, that's taking me out of the “now”, but my mind comes alive. That's one of my problems with the digital age. I spend far too much time in front of the computer instead of experiencing the world around me.

Off to go live…


Originally published at Marc Gunn .com. Read. Interact. Breathe. It's easy; it's free.