Inhabiting This Moment
It's been an ongoing process for me, this learning to fully inhabit the present moment.
My first teachers were my boys. When I was in the world of dirty diapers and runny noses and bugs in pockets and bedtime tuck-ins, I came to realize if I was continuously preoccupied with what came next, I would miss the gifts right there in front of me. I determined to be there not just physically, but mentally, to live into the simple moments. By allowing my perspective to shift from lamenting all the things I wasn't "accomplishing" to allowing myself the human experience of being, not just doing, I unwrapped beautiful gifts of fulfillment and joy.
Another teacher has been my yoga practice. Whether steamy hot, warm, or otherwise, the focus of yoga is the breath. The inhale and the exhale place me right there on my mat and guide me through each movement. I'm not worried about the next pose. I'm just breathing into this one. In a pen with baby goats, in a studio, or in my own workout room upstairs, yoga draws me into the moment.
Saturday morning, I joined some friends for a yoga session at a park overlooking the ocean. It was breath and movement and gratitude on a grassy green carpet beneath a boundless azure ceiling. Enveloped by the sounds and smells of the ocean, gently caressed by the cool breeze rippling through the palm trees, every child's pose and down dog and crescent lunge was a prayer. Thank you, God, for all of this. For the ocean stretching out as far as I can see. For the birds. For the trees. For the blue of the sky that I can't even find words to adequately describe. For beauty. For these friends. Thank you for this opportunity to nourish my soul in the sanctuary of your creation.
After yoga, I went home to be greeted by another little guru who is teaching me to be in the moment -- Blu the goldendoodle puppy. Knowing that we would be getting a puppy after Christmas, I had begun adjusting my expectations for myself, forming a resolve to to let some things go and to simplify. So when the little angel with a mouthful of shark teeth we call Blu came to us on December 30, I was ready to embrace the puppiness. Oh, don't get me wrong, it will be wonderful when Blu can go out for walks after her last shots and lay on the couch without the constant urge to bite the pillows and sleep in on occasion. But puppiness offers its own delightful rewards, and I'm not going to miss them wishing for tomorrow and next week and next month when things will get easier. Blu is teaching me to inhabit this moment...one "sit," one puppy kiss, one bounding furry leap at a time.
For someone with an inborn “what’s next” default operating system, learning to inhabit the present moment is a challenge. I'm grateful for the wonderful master teachers God has placed in my life to show be a better way. I'm sure there will be more to come.
