I’ve been thinking about the way I spend my life. These moments that sometimes I see and sometimes I don’t. Today I am at DuPont Forest and there is a lot of action. It’s a beautiful June afternoon, warm but not hot. Families are swimming, dogs chasing balls into the water, fly fishermen, people standing on the falls, sitting in the shallows, sunbathers and tons of hikers coming and going.

The sun is reflecting off the ripples of water, and I am listening to the small thunder of the falls. There are so many moments and they are so fleeting. Mostly I am in my head, thinking of what’s next, the drive home, what to cook for dinner, and that’s a shame. I feel this is how the moments of our life slip away, and sometimes how whole lifetimes slip away. We get caught in our head, in the busywork of the day, and we don’t focus here in this moment. I find myself always searching for what’s next, what’s better. The truth is: this is it. Whatever it is now, whatever this moment brings, that is what my life actually is. Not what may or may not come today, tomorrow, next year.

It reminds me of Ram Dass’ iconic book, Be Here Now. It’s one of my favorites because it talks about this very thing, how do we get inside the moment of now? How do we be fully present in this moment? I think that is one of the great lessons of life. It’s easy to scatter in a million directions, very difficult to be still and fully present.

I notice the little boy who walks up to my husband and gets an impromptu fishing lesson. His little brother in his big yellow life vest who wants to follow but is too unsure. My really white legs in the sun, the exposed roots of the giant Ash tree I sit under. I try to open to each of these moments and really see them, be in them, not thinking about what comes next.

Now I just listen, to families laughing, little kids squealing with delight as they swim, the two teenage girls sunbathing and talking low. Then it gets quieter, still, so still that I find myself in the middle of this moment. There is a magic in being right where you are, completely. I think that’s where we find the doorway to the soul, patiently waiting to be opened.

Be strong then, and enter into your own body;

there you have a solid place for you feet.

Think about it carefully!

Don’t go off somewhere else!

Kabir says this: just throw away all thoughts of

imaginary things,

and stand firm in that which you are.

-Kabir

How will you choose to live your moments?

kb