A New Beginning

This past Friday while deeply absorbed in whatever I was doing, a friend dropped off a package at my desk.  My absorption was probably me staring into space or being totally one with a transcendent guitar solo playing on my iPod.  Music has a way of allowing me to transcend time and space.  When I opened the package I discovered a new book called The Pocket Book of Mindfulness.   It was a collection of quotes that supports “living in the moment and feeling liberated”.  I am going to use this book as encouragement to write some new thoughts.  For a while now I have been kind of brain dead and I have been recycling a lot of daily thoughts that I wrote in the past.  I tried to pick what I thought was the best of them but I am sure some of my faithful readers have thought that some of my daily thoughts gave them a feeling of Déjà vu.  Many writings in the past have developed from an idea or a quote that I have read from someone else.  Beginning today I will have a daily quote along with a few of my own reflections.  I am sure I will continue many of the themes I have written about in the past but, hopefully, with some new perspective.

 

“Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on to it when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).

-James Baraz

 

I believe people confuse being in the moment with enjoying the moment.  Let’s be honest.  Not every moment is sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns.  Some moments in life are difficult.  Most of us want to avoid or run away from such moments.  Who in their right mind wants to be present to unpleasantness?  There is a cartoon that routinely shows up on Facebook that shows a person meditating.  The caption says “Today I will live in the moment unless it is unpleasant.  In that case I will just eat a cookie”.  Richard Rohr, a man I have mentioned many times in the past, once said that “The moment is as perfect as it can be”.   Today I encourage to you accept the reality of each moment.  Be grateful for those moments that are enjoyable.  Be strong for those moments that test you.  The good news is that those difficult moments will pass.  The bad news is that the good moments will also pass.  Life is movement.  Flow with it.