A dear person in my life shared this poem with me that she wrote recently:
Help me to stay here, in this 24 hours.
Poem entitled “here”
Not looking ahead in fear or fantasy,
Or looking back in regret or regression,
but here – present, aware, and me.
This poem reminded me what a gift it is to live in the “here,” to live being fully present in the moment we are in. However, I find for people that being in the “here” and only here, is a difficult one to live by. With our fast-paced culture, over-packed schedules, and a drive-thru mentality to hurry up and get to the next thing we have to do, we forget to STOP. We forget to take a breath, a slow breath, in…and out…to smell what is around us, to feel the breeze touch out skin, the warmth of the sun on our face.
To be fully present and fully aware means that we bring all of ourselves into the moment we are in. Not rushing out of this moment to get to the next, not ruminating over the past regrets or future decisions, not wishing away this moment in hopes the next one will be better. But staying in this moment.
Look at your clock….
Let’s say it is 10:56 am. Where are you? You can’t be in 10:55 am because that has already passed, and you can’t be in 10:57 because it hasn’t happened yet. You are only in this minute. You can’t be anywhere else. So be there! Enjoy the space you are in, even if it is hard. Each moment linked together is what makes our journey unique. Rewinding or fast-forwarding time makes our journey confusing, exhausting, and lacking fullness.
One morning when my daughter was younger, we were getting ready for pre-school and it was “Princess/Prince Day.” It was a Friday morning and I was rushing to get her ready, get myself ready, and get to work on time. I was preoccupied with everything I was going to have to do that day, and I started getting frustrated, stressed, and snippy with my daughter.
My mind was in the future and my body was rushed. So, I stopped. I had just had a conversation with someone about being fully present in the moment you are in, so I thought I would give it a try. I sat down in her room and became very aware of bringing all of myself, body, mind, and soul into the moment with her. We tried on a few princess dresses, laughed, and got ready with time to spare.
I can tell you to this day, 9 years later, I remember the experience as if it was yesterday…what dress she wore, the feel of the fabric, the color of the carpet I sat on, what the morning light looked like coming through her window, the look of her smile on her little face, the beauty of her laugh, the calmness I felt in my body, and all because I stopped, was present, and completely aware of my surroundings. It only took a few minutes, but it changed everything for me. It changed how I went about each day, how I interacted with people, how I engaged with myself.
Mindfulness
This concept is called mindfulness, and you may have heard this word thrown around a lot these days. Maybe you have even dismissed it as the newest tend, or some out-there idea, and you are free to think what you will about it. At first, I thought “yeah, right” but then I did it, and then I did again, and again, and again, and honestly, now I don’t know how to live otherwise. So, before you dismiss it, my challenge would be to try it, just try it. Try being “Here.” Be present, be aware, be fully present in the moment you are in. Go ahead…try it right now…
Bring the past only of you are going to build from it
Domenico Cieri Estrada
