In The Right Now
This week has been an eventful one in my household; sending our older son off to college and getting our younger one ready for his freshman year of high school starting next week. It has been a busy and emotional week for our family.
This week I've had to remind myself multiple times, something I learned a long time ago which has served me well. Be "in the right now." Be "in the moment." Too many times the milestones in our lives come and go without much fanfare and later we are left with an emptiness as we look back.
2,500 years ago, a guy named Siddhartha Gautama was figuring out all kinds of things on his way to "Enlightenment." One of the things he learned through trial and error and a cornerstone of the movement he began which was eventually called Buddhism was to be in the moment. To be in the right now. To truly treasure the moments of your life "as" they were happening.
In our 24/7 go, go, go world very few people do that anymore. For those of you who are parents, you know how it feels to be the neighborhood taxi, shuttling your kids and seemingly everyone else's to football and cheerleading, clubs and rehearsals, study sessions and piano practice. Somehow finding ways to also clean the house well enough so you don't end up on an episode of Hoarders, figuring out what to make for dinner, and well what time is left anyway after all that mess?
Yet with all the running around we do with our kids, our spouses, our friends, and with all the activities which seem to keep us endlessly busy, studies say people feel less connected and more lonely than ever before.
I'm convinced one of the reasons is we are moving so fast we miss those moments that feed our spirits, that lift our hearts and enhance our humanity. We miss them and are left with that void we don't talk about at parties. The void we feel when we are finally alone, standing in front of the mirror in our bedrooms getting ready to brush our teeth and go to bed. No wonder so many people turn to drugs, alcohol, and destructive behaviors.
For my friends who don't have children, your lives are just as crazy and just as busy and filled with just as many events and activities that seemingly keep you moving at a thousand miles an hour too.
My friends, if we don't appreciate the moments which make life worth living then what is the point to it all? We are marvelous creatures. Everything that has ever happened in the history of the entire universe for as long as time has existed all had to happen perfectly for you to be right here, right now. You have but a fleeting amount of time on this earth and none of your money, none of your "status" is going with you. All you will have to take and leave with those you love will be the moments which made your life worth living or those which were missed.
Slow down, take stock in the special moments in your life. Enjoy your families, your friends, your pets. Get rid of that stupid frown you wear all day and smile a little. As a matter of fact, smile a lot. If you're on a diet, smiling burns more calories. Seriously though, this is your one chance at this human experience, don't waste it by missing all those things which make it worth living.
As always, I believe in you my friend. You just have to believe in yourself.
This week I've had to remind myself multiple times, something I learned a long time ago which has served me well. Be "in the right now." Be "in the moment." Too many times the milestones in our lives come and go without much fanfare and later we are left with an emptiness as we look back.
2,500 years ago, a guy named Siddhartha Gautama was figuring out all kinds of things on his way to "Enlightenment." One of the things he learned through trial and error and a cornerstone of the movement he began which was eventually called Buddhism was to be in the moment. To be in the right now. To truly treasure the moments of your life "as" they were happening.
In our 24/7 go, go, go world very few people do that anymore. For those of you who are parents, you know how it feels to be the neighborhood taxi, shuttling your kids and seemingly everyone else's to football and cheerleading, clubs and rehearsals, study sessions and piano practice. Somehow finding ways to also clean the house well enough so you don't end up on an episode of Hoarders, figuring out what to make for dinner, and well what time is left anyway after all that mess?
Yet with all the running around we do with our kids, our spouses, our friends, and with all the activities which seem to keep us endlessly busy, studies say people feel less connected and more lonely than ever before.
I'm convinced one of the reasons is we are moving so fast we miss those moments that feed our spirits, that lift our hearts and enhance our humanity. We miss them and are left with that void we don't talk about at parties. The void we feel when we are finally alone, standing in front of the mirror in our bedrooms getting ready to brush our teeth and go to bed. No wonder so many people turn to drugs, alcohol, and destructive behaviors.
For my friends who don't have children, your lives are just as crazy and just as busy and filled with just as many events and activities that seemingly keep you moving at a thousand miles an hour too.
My friends, if we don't appreciate the moments which make life worth living then what is the point to it all? We are marvelous creatures. Everything that has ever happened in the history of the entire universe for as long as time has existed all had to happen perfectly for you to be right here, right now. You have but a fleeting amount of time on this earth and none of your money, none of your "status" is going with you. All you will have to take and leave with those you love will be the moments which made your life worth living or those which were missed.
Slow down, take stock in the special moments in your life. Enjoy your families, your friends, your pets. Get rid of that stupid frown you wear all day and smile a little. As a matter of fact, smile a lot. If you're on a diet, smiling burns more calories. Seriously though, this is your one chance at this human experience, don't waste it by missing all those things which make it worth living.
As always, I believe in you my friend. You just have to believe in yourself.
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