Present Life

"One of our greatest failings as human beings is our inability to be present in our own lives." - The Rhythm of Life,  Matthew Kelly

It is so easy not to be present.......how many of us multi-task all day?  I teach about being present and yet I struggle with it too.  Do you find yourself thinking of something else when someone is talking to you?
Do you imagine being someplace else when you should be here?    What is it about we humans that we resist the present so much?  It is work, it takes effort, not to dwell in the past, or worry about the future.

Be here, be now, be in this breath......I say those words over and over every day, yet even as I say them,
I watch faces and I know ........they are not present.  But there is something magical when you allow yourself to be present in your own life, there is almost a giddiness, an indescribable joy that takes place in the present.
Think about what it's like to do something you truly love, how when you experience it, you think of nothing else......that is being present in your own life.

When you are present in your own life, you don't experience stress, or worry or fear.  Think of being there when your child took their first step, I bet you weren't thinking of what you should be doing......think of what it was like to do something you really wanted to do for the first time......fly fishing, taking an incredible photograph, playing a musical instrument, painting, knitting your first sweater, writing a poem, baking your first loaf of bread.......you were there in the present, intoxicated by the  awareness of nothing else.

I know that I have written much about being here, in the now, in the present.......but it's because life is short....no matter how long we live.......and being in the now, living and experiencing our own life now, is so much better than reliving  old memories of the past or imagining  fears of the future.  We live now, yesterday is just a memory, tomorrow may never come.

I sit here now, I listen to Blackie Bear breathe, I can hear my breath,  my fingers feel the touch of the keyboard, I wait for my brain to send me more thoughts,  no thoughts of yesterday, no worries about tomorrow.......I am content, I am peaceful, I am present in my own life, now.

Take some time, be present in your own life for just a few short minutes,  as you become accustomed to that feeling........you will want more.  The past will become what it truly is......memories..... and the future,  well the present feels so right, so good.....you won't worry about tomorrow.  Present in your own life, present in you own breath, present in the present, now.

Good night, Sweet dreams.