“Being in the present moment—if you can learn to do that—begins to change your whole life.” —Oprah
Today was a day that challenged my soap box chant of always being present; that chanted affirmation of living in the now (which in reality is every moment). There is only “now,” and although this is perhaps my loudest roar, sometimes I struggle to stay present. Today for example, I’ve just caught myself struggling with glitchy technology, and simultaneously worrying about some yet-to-transpire event.
The ruffles of my humanness are peeking out from beneath my metaphorical skirt. I run my hands down my sides, rubbing my thighs, but it’s useless; smoothness evades my incessant pushing, forcing….
These pesky exposures are reminders that there is work left to complete; that there is still a path in front of me, beckoning me, even as I struggle to focus on the present moment.
Shaking my head, I inhale deeply, fully extending the capacity of my lungs. I hold in the balloon of air until my lungs give out. Refusing to be abused any longer the air exits in a loud rush of sound.
The breath brings me back to the present where I express gratitude that now, right now, I have breath. I am alive. I can still participate in the moment. Still present, I AM an active participant in conscious creation of my experience right now.
Worry, it’s been said, is borrowing trouble from the future. It is decidedly NOT living in the moment and expressing gratitude for what is. Worry is a waste of valuable, finite personal energy and precious time. Still, my precious time escaped today; it ran like oily water down the drain. Regardless of how insistent I was, I was unable to clutch any time to write, and without time to write, I get a bit neurotic and off-balance. There are words to speak, sentences to release, and an inner compulsion to put my ideas and thoughts down on this blog. It’s doubly troubling, when I have missed a day of spewing, due to circumstances beyond my control. Ahh technology….
Searching, as I have become accustomed to, for the blessings in the mire, I stop to appreciate that maybe that delay in writing provided me with a fresh perspective, or with a much needed moment of reflection. Okay, I’ll buy that. I can express gratitude for the reminder to stay present; to remember that it is always now.
Being present is an art form. Apparently I am still mastering the craft, because even as I write currently, I am thinking about the things that will be said tomorrow.
Time will tell.
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