Do you live right, now? I mean— are you present in the moment of now? Present in what is happening at the present — not the future or the past — but the now. Yes, it is a difficult task to not project forward to potential prospects or not dwell on what has occurred in your history. Take a moment — look around — what are you missing? Your children dancing around the living room to the latest tunes from your IPod or your spouse glancing at you with loving eyes or a phone call from a long-lost friend, what is more important — what you need to do to get to the next thing, event, or item on calendar or the now?
I challenged myself to living in the present; to take every opportunity that happens in the moment. The other night I snuggled on the top bunk with Tristan as we looked through one of our Waldo books I thought nothing of the piled-up dishes in the sink or laundry to add to the washer, I stayed focused on finding Waldo and guess what? We had a blast, not only did Tristan and I have fun, but we connected. Tristan knew all my energy and thoughts were on him and the activity, not on the steps of the evening or tomorrow’s phone calls.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring maybe you will win a million dollars or get hit by a car so spending all your reserves on the future or the past robs you of the present. After Tristan was diagnosed with autism I spent hours and perhaps even days at a time, researching and analyzing how Tristan could have gotten autism. I remember sitting in my warm car looking out at the children playing on the beach while Tristan and Dylan sat strapped into their car seats, so I could take a call from a pharmaceutical representative about a vaccine Tristan received two years earlier. Instead I could have been at the beach playing in the sand with my kids and living because whatever was said on the phone did not matter. What happened two years earlier did not help me or Tristan then or even now.
So, go live for the present. Challenge yourself to live an hour or a day or even a week in the now. See what the results are if you shed the baggage of the past and stop analyzing the future. Perhaps you will find what I have found — PEACE.
2 comments:
Excellent post. Reminds me of the message in 2 books I have recently read: An Eckart Tolle Book called " A New Earth" and a popular book called The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. The focus is on being in the present, as you so eloquently describe. When you do it, it's magical, on so many levels. In the end, its all about our relationships with each other. Not what we've done, what we've acquired, or academic/professional accomplishments. It's the relationship with our children, our families, are community, and our higher power (however you conceptualize that power to be). The present is where it all takes place.
What an inspiring post :)
Thank you!! I love Eckart Tolle. I remind myself everyday to stay in the present. when you have a child with autism you can find yourslf in the what-ifs which is not helpful. Thanks again for reading. Angela
Post a Comment