“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” -Thomas Merton
“Address things in the moment.” -said at 4/2 BMRT meeting
The present moment is easy to miss. On any given day our minds spend countless moments lunging forward to imagine and dream about future things, or catapulting into the past to revisit wrongs or missed opportunities. Typically, the present is something we tolerate with little thought to its significance, until it is over. We ignore internal cues, anxious words and atypical cacophony as we press on to our next moment, never stopping to tarry in the moment and hear or see its significance. One moment leads to the next moment and we wake up years later wishing we had stopped to engage the moment.
How do we engage the moment? In the hustle and the bustle of the semester, especially THIS time in the semester, how do we make time to engage the moment? We just do. We make it a priority to think, to read for fun stimulating our imagination, to see, to wonder, to sleep, to listen, to hear, to walk, to dabble, to suck the marrow out of the day, to smell the “roses,” to drink scrumptious, ice cold water and feel its healing properties cascade down our throat. We slow down. We center ourselves. We take one moment at a time, engaging it fully and with abandon.
I know. We have things to do. People to see. Events to plan. Meetings to schedule. Projects to turn in. Proposals to submit. Deadlines. Places to go. We wake up so far beyond the moment, we not only miss it, but we miss the countless moments after, the ones that piece together the moments and make sense of them. We HAVE TO stop that insanity. Our lives are at stake… our mental health… our families… and the world. We simply cannot move from crisis to crisis without rest. Our finite bodies will not allow it without there being a cost.
Today, I invite you to engage the moment. Walk slowly around the Dell and breathe. Feel the sunshine on your skin and delight in the warmth. Smile at someone new and as you do, look at them with open eyes. Listen to Creation sing her Spring songs and allow yourself to dance to the tunes. Pull out that book you have been dying to read, dust off its cover, and spend 15 minutes before bed diving into its pages. See the movie you want to see. Laugh. Giggle. Grab coffee. Eat ice cream from a cone. Color. Write a note of encouragement. Phone a friend. Go for drinks. Whatever you do, engage the moment in your own way, in your own style.
In engaging the moment, we are not wasting time. We are embracing time with courage, faith and hope. We are savoring the moment, and allowing its fragrance to inspire us. We are breathing, and allowing our work and rest to be balanced. We are addressing things in the moment. We are living life as was intended, one moment at a time.
Blessings, Katrina