Presence

June 8, 2005

I’ve been thinking a lot about presence lately. It seems so important to be ‘present’ wherever you and whenever you are.

There
is so much in each moment, and it is so easy to miss it. I may be
wrong, but I have this sense that each moment is this whole world -
this huge gift we’re given. And it’s a free gift: we can either accept
it or ignore it and there is no penalty. But to accept it - to see the
moment for all it is and for all that is within it - to accept it is to
fully experience life, whether it is painful or joyful, at the very
least it is real. So perhaps there is a penalty in not accepting it
because you miss so much good stuff.

I want to be fully present.
I don’t want to spend time and energy worrying about the future or
regretting the past. I want to be fully present in each moment I’m
given.

But I also want to be present with people I love who
aren’t with me. And I want to be present with people in the world who
are hungry, cold, sick, dying, at war, tired, etc. I don’t want to
forget these people. I don’t want to get stuck in my own world, closed
in. And I know there are times when I am just distracted and cannot
find a way to be present.

So what do I do? What do I do with the
times when I am scattered and can’t pull myself back together? And, can
I be fully present in each moment and still allow pieces of my heart to
be present with people who aren’t in my moment, whenever and wherever I
may be?

Posted in spirituality by Sarah