LILLIAN BENRUBI PSYCHOTHERAPY MSW, RSW |
Living in the moment. Mindfulness. Presence.
How many times have you heard these concepts over the past year or two? I know I hear them almost daily….whether in the context of a conversation with a friend, a client, or meditation. Day 6 of Oprah and Deepak’s current Free 21 Day Meditation….speaks of just that. Over 20 minutes of a “sermon” of sorts and then meditation…..focuses on bringing us back to our bodies, to the moment, to all the infinitesimal “goings-on” that happen in every moment……that we miss. Oprah speaks of a mentor who told her this: If you miss the look in your child’s eye one day…you’ve missed it. If you miss the look in your lover’s eye the next day….you’ve missed it. If you miss the beauty of sitting under the trees, you’ve missed that too. If you add that up over many moments, and then many days and years…you may wind up missing the most important aspects of your own life. How profound this really is when we look back at the things we missed in life. How beautiful and wise of a lesson to take with us moving forward into our day, our week and life as a whole. Deepak says, “Ask yourself who is listening to the words being said right now? Present awareness is listening, it’s that simple. Meditation opens the way to experience present awareness without outside distractions. It also takes us outside the ego and it’s constant need for attention. When present moment awareness has no demands upon it….you experience first hand, how natural and easy it is. As our meditation practice grows, it becomes just as natural and easy to be present in daily activity. Only when you feel perfectly peaceful and at home in yourself, does the present moment begin to unfold as the lasting source of fulfillment. A state of awareness where you need nothing outside yourself. The here and now is enough.” Phew…..that’s a lot and soooo powerful. I spoke with my sister just a few days ago…..and she told me about her intention to slow life down one day. She went shopping for groceries and was looking for beets. She noticed a male employee…..specifically, one of the many employees we may not even notice stacking the vegetables………who may be in our way, may be feet away from us.. She asked him for what she was looking for, and he looked around. He looked everywhere, and not finding it on display, he went to the back of the store and still did not find them. She thanked him and went off to look for something else. She then went back to him to ask another question, and again, his efforts were above and beyond. He gave her the answer and they again acknowledged one another and parted ways. My sister continued her shopping and ten minutes later, he appeared in one of the many rows with the beets she was looking for. My sister, touched by this man’s attention to her needs, his mindfulness of her request, his being in the moment, lovingly thanked him, and she was gifted with the lesson of living in the moment for the rest of the week. Someone she, or any of us, may not give much mind to…..gifted her with an important lesson……connection, gratitude, a noticing of the existence of another, understanding the significance of every human life, seeing what unfolds when living in the moment, noticing our needs are met through living in the moment. Like Deepak said……..”The here and now is enough”.
1 Comment
11/6/2018 07:55:46 pm
They say that living at the moment is very important for us. This is because we cannot retreat the same moment twice, that's why we need to maximize what the current situation has to offer. Live art the moment, as what other people believe. We should always think of thew ways to be happy, but this one entails a lot of responsibilities too. We should be responsible with our actions because this can have consequences at the end so it's just right to be mindful of our actions too.
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