A Mantra: What Can I Do in This Hour?

The title of this entry is also a quick and easy mantra that I focus on whenever I’m feeling like I have too much to do and too little time to do it. I break this out whenever my to-do list is overflowing and it feels like I will never get All The Things done.

I think I first came up with this while out running–which is where I often have some of my better ideas. I remember one morning, running along the trails here in Provincetown (one of the most gorgeous places to run in the USA, no matter what time of year), and my mind felt like it was miles away from my body. 

That morning, my brain was fretting–humans are built to fret; it’s what keeps us alive–about meetings I had, clients who were struggling, laundry that needed to be folded, a sick friend who I couldn’t help get better, some photos I needed to get to the shop–and I realized that I was actually missing the run my body was doing. 

Focus on what's right in front of you!

I asked myself, “What can I do right now that feels good and productive?” The answer was simple: I could bring my brain back into my body, and focus on the physical act of running: feeling my feet hit the ground and the cold air come into my nose and then out through my mouth, a bit warmer; noticing the coyote tracks in the sand; hearing the turkey vultures squawking in the trees up ahead. In short, I could do the run I had planned to do and was looking forward to. 

I’ve been using this mantra a lot lately. Summer is paradise in Provincetown, but it brings with it lots of extra (fun!) things to do and people to see. It means most days not coming close to accomplishing everything I want to (and could easily knock out during a day in Winter). So I use those seven words to help me re-enter the present and focus on what I can get done now. It’s a quick, gentle push to bring my brain back into my body.

And, of course, the bigger truth is I will never get All The Things done. That’s not the point of life, is it? We do our best, we try to be kind, we apologize when we have not been kind, we find some joy wherever we can, and we rinse and repeat until we no longer have the luxury of being alive. 

Perhaps that sounds naive or nihilistic, in an era that is filled with so much oppression and authoritarianism, and all the suffering that those things bring to us and the planet. But I think, especially in 2025, focusing on what I can control and where I can find fulfillment is a radical act of resistance. 

So I will do just that, and I hope maybe those seven words–What Can I Do in This Hour–allow you to do the same.