Today is a Gift

June 16, 2009

It takes a lot of energy to remain calm and to remain nonreactive.  Have you paid attention to where your mind has taken you from moment to moment through the day? 

I did and guess what?  I spent a lot of time clinging to memories and regretting what had already happened.  If I wasn’t doing that, I was thinking and worrying about what the future would bring.   Wondering what might or might not happen….

With all this going on, it’s no wonder we miss a lot of what is happening in the moment.   Mindfulness is a practice of not letting your thoughts get in the way of experiencing what is happening now.  The opposite of mindfulness is unawareness.  Mindfulness means we eat and really taste what we are eating, we look and really see what we are looking at, we hear and really listen to what is around us, we touch and really feel the texture.

Try something new.  Take an M&M.  Choose your favorite color and look it over.  Smell it.  Lick it.  Focus on the actions of moving it to your lips. Note your salivating and put it in your mouth.  Chew it slowly and experience it slowly, actually taste it.  When you are ready, swallow the M&M and really experience the act of swallowing.  What is swallowing like?

You have taken a first step in being in the present moment and now you know that the present is the only time we have to learn… to act….to be.  —KayDee

June 10, 2009

“Yesterday is the Past, Tomorrow is the Future, Today is a Gift, That is Why is is called the Present”  Don’t you just love it when these tasty nuggets come from movies that you are watching with your kids?

This is a quote from Kung Fu Panda and it is illustrative of the path that you are about to embark on in this section of the website.  We are going to discuss “staying in the moment” or “living in the moment.”  Another way of talking about this is to come to Awareness or Mindfulness.

Now, don’t freak out on me just yet.  But this may be difficult for all the doers out there in internet land.

‘Cause we’re going into the land of “non-doing“–a magical place where few women, especially few moms, have gone before. 

Think about your life.  How much of your day is consumed with your doing and being on “auto-pilot” –if you are like me that would be a significant amount of the day.  Especially when I’m driving from one place to another throughout the day, I suddenly just find myself there.  My thoughts seem to carry me away from the present moment and my own awareness of that Present. 

If you really pay attention to your thoughts throughout the day you will probably find out what I have found out.  Take a sheet of paper out and do that and tomorrow we’ll compare notes.  Then we will keep going.  –K