Friday, January 16, 2015

Birthday Present




     I started my birthday celebrations off with a bang yesterday at a luncheon given by my friend Rose.  She made the most delicious quiche any of us had ever had.  It was about a two and a half inch high tower of moist, fluffy, cheesy delight with a hint of bacon, tomatoes and herbs, crowned with a flaky to-die-for crust.  Paired with a very tasty salad and finished with a desert specialty of hers that is a trifle-like meringue concoction rolled in sugared toasted almonds served with fresh berries.  Seated around her beautifully set table, in her impeccable home it was our group of six who work out in the same classes several times a week.  Truly a perfect way to approach the dawn of seventy-one years!  In my blog entry last May 9th I mentioned these ladies and how much incentive it added that at least some of us go downstairs for tea and a good chat after we work out.

                              


       When I started this blog a year ago, it was with the awareness that time was growing exceedingly precious. Of course, time has always been precious; age has just put a spotlight on it.  It’s my awareness of this that has intensified, and it’s by keeping this on my daily radar that I can fulfill the plan I made: to create as much heaven as I can for myself and others as I move closer to the top of the stairway.  The gift I can give myself everyday is to remember Lazy Woman’s Commandment  # 2, and “live the moment you are living, while you are living it.” 

       Sound simple?  This is not as easy as it sounds.  It’s the subject of books and workshops, at the core of Buddhist meditations, and explained in detail by Eckhart Tolle in “The Power of Now.”  His account of how the ego views the present moment is a perfect description of the path my mind will take, if I don’t stop it in its tracks!   “To the ego, the present moment is, at best, only useful as a means to an end.  It gets you to some future moment that is considered more important, even though the future never comes except as the present moment and is therefore never more than a thought in your head.  In other words, you are never fully here because you are always busy trying to get elsewhere.”  When it senses a looming problem, my mind becomes fixated on trying to figure out what’s coming next so that I will be prepared to avert a crisis.  Or maybe I think that “preparing” myself for a negative outcome will make bad news easier to take.  Or maybe I’m just in a judging frenzy about how a project is going, or how someone else is performing.  Then there is the annoyed mind, where other drivers, noisy diners, loud cell phone talkers on the train, or rude people in cramped spaces have me all wound up.  This is an exhausting way to live when the present moment is gobbled up by fear, frustration or irritation. 
       The challenge is with the how to stay in the present moment, and the how is built on day-to-day awareness.  How will I get my mind in check when I start to get caught up in the future or dragged into re-writing yesterday?  My mind needs to be reminded to stay in the present regularly, so I try to start the day with prayers and meditation to get me headed in the right direction.  I also keep notes with reminders on the fridge door, in my car, in pockets and purses, so throughout the day I can regroup.  I print things like the Serenity Prayer or Lazy Woman’s Guide Commandments “This too shall pass,” “you are resting in the hands of God (the universe),” “you can either be right or happy” - and to really shift focus #6 “put your attention outside of yourself.”  I do something to draw my attention outside of my thoughts.  If I take action in the garden, with my animals, helping someone with something, really noticing the beauty all around me - in the sky, dew on leaves, the colors of the vegetables I am cutting – I become more present in the moment.  The present moment is only available RIGHT NOW!  Revel in it, ease into it – and if it’s a difficult one, try to relax and breathe.  Don’t put fear, and anxiety about what’s next, on top of what’s already difficult.  This moment is your life!  It’s the only one you can guarantee.  I thank God for the precious present.

         “Worry never robs tomorrow of it’s sorrow; it only saps 
              today of its strength.”  A.J. Cronin

                                         
Rufus, The Doggie Lama, brings the peace.
                        
 

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