Today’s the day. Whether you are a fan of America’s favorite sport or not, chances are many of you will tune in this afternoon for Super Bowl LIII. Maybe you want to witness history and see Tom Brady lead the Patriots to another win, earning him ring #6. Maybe you’re a faithful Rams fan and you’re hoping this is your year. Or maybe you are one of those people who tolerate the game so you can see the commercials. Maybe you just appreciate the game of football. Or you might be like me – you’re just excited to gather with friends and eat wings! And then some of you just don’t care. Not one bit. You’ll be streaming Netflix. I hear you. I totally support that!
But I’m about to make a football analogy here, so stay with me.
My son recently asked me what “Down! Set! Hut!” means. I puffed up a little bit (pun intended) because I was the Powder Puff Quarterback my junior and senior year of high school – so I totally felt qualified to give him an answer.
These three words are a critical part of the game as they happen seconds before any offensive play. The quarterback offers his cadence to adjust the linemen and prepare his team for the play that’s ahead. The “Hut” in the cadence actually comes from the military term “Atten-Hut” which means to come to “attention” and get ready for battle.
It got me thinking. My husband and I have been talking a lot about mindfulness lately. Mindfulness is paying attention to or the practice of being fully aware of the moment. There’s a lot more to it involving breathing and meditation, but it basically means having more awareness in the moment. As a family, we’re trying to reconcile this desire with a pretty crazy schedule. We long to be more present in each moment, instead of just going through the motions.
My husband and I want to be more mindful – we could use a cadence, a Down! Set! Hut!
I’m guessing some of you could too.
We’re working hard to slow DOWN and just “be.” We want to embrace more of those still, quiet moments instead of filling them so we can check off our “to do” lists. We want to be more present with our kids instead of scattered as we tackle the agenda of our mornings, afternoons and evenings. We want to be more intentional with slow, deep breaths. (We encourage this after our workouts at the Barn.)
We want to SET our hearts and our minds on what matters instead of the meaningless stuff that distracts us from just that. This means we need to SET our phones down – especially when we’re with our kids.
Atten-HUT! We want to pay more attention, to each other, to our kids, to our friends, to strangers. We want to live in the moment. For me, this means planning our weekly meals ahead of time and improving my time management. It means a healthy balance of work and play.
It’s February and we’re heading into Week 10 at the Barn. I can’t think of a better TEAM to be with than all of you!
Blue 42!
Omaha!
Down! Set! Hut!
Whatever it is, let’s treat each moment like we’re on that line of scrimmage. Let’s be more present. That next play, that next thing, could take us a few steps forward, a few steps back, or it could be a complete game-changer. Let’s go team!