I will live each present moment, filling it to the brim with love. — Monsignor John Walsh
Make an attempt to live in the now by not worrying or thinking about what is going to occur later today or next week.
Make an attempt to live in the now by not worrying or thinking about what is going to occur later today or next week.
I often hear people talking about living in the present moment as if it is a struggle, some cosmic game of attempting to grasp something that is fleeting, illusory. They say things like, “the moment I have it, it’s gone.” While this is true and can be frustrating, the last thing present moment awareness is about is grabbing serenity. I have always liked the metaphor of the river (borrowed from my Christian contemplative practice of prayer) in talking of the flow of thoughts. Imagine the stream of consciousness as a river, with boats and debris representing thoughts. You’re sitting on the bank of the river watching it. Normal awareness has you looking at each individual boat-thought, following it down the river with your eyes — and to strain the metaphor, getting on it and opening hatches — then suddenly shifting your awareness to another boat and so on. If your mind is particularly cluttered, you can feel overwhelmed by all the boats you have to look at and it can feel like that classic I Love Lucy skit with the conveyor belt at the chocolate factory, like you’re falling behind and they start slipping by. There can be a sense of panic that a thought that’s getting past you without attention is important and you’re missing it.
Present moment awareness is simply sitting on the bank and watching the river, not the boats. Boats cross your field of vision and you do see them, but you don’t follow them with your eyes or get on them. They’re not out of focus, but you don’t focus on them.
Today, take off your blinders and notice your surroundings.
Holden Caulfield’s Moments of Grace The spiritual wisdom of Salinger’s famous teen Midway through J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden…
Fast from negative thoughts today. Pray that those around you have a wonderful day. Give your company to someone who could use it today.
Fast from procrastination right now! Pray for awareness of where you might be needed. Give your time to a project you’ve been avoiding.
As a child, I yearned to be good. Not just pleasant-table-manners good, but profound, give-away-all-your-belongings-like-St.-Francis good. This may surprise anyone who knew me back then,…
Ever want to bite someone’s head off just because they had the misfortune to cross your path when you hadn’t eaten lunch? Or hadn’t gotten…
“Oh, I can’t meditate. I tried it. My mind won’t shut up.” This is the most common rejection I hear when counseling people that daily meditation may help them. People think they can’t meditate.