This Moment is Our Home

In order to know the safety and joy of being truly alive, I invite you to live in the question, “How can I experience what I am experiencing?”

To get a sense of what I am talking about, after you read these next two paragraphs, stop and take a few minutes to practice the ideas in them. SEE the space you are sitting in – really see it. To help your mind become curious, pretend you are an alien who has come to inhabit a human body for just a few moments and need to describe what the Earth is like when you go home. Pay keen attention to what is. See lines and curves, colors and shadows. And if your mind doesn’t want to be here, become curious about what it feels is more important – “this is too boring”;” I am too busy to do this”; or “this makes me uncomfortable”.

For at least a moment, see if you can recognize that all the millions of moments of your life have brought you to the room you are sitting in and to the reading of this blog. This is it. This is the only moment that matters in your life. This moment is the only place where you are truly alive. Touch it with your attention. Feel it; experience it. Notice that the mind will want to think about what it is experiencing. Over and over again, with deep curiosity, simply return to what is here. Take a minute to fully experience what is within and around you right now.

This moment is our home. And like the story of the prodigal son, we have traveled very far away from our home, caught in a world of thought. But home has never left us. It is always right here, right now. All the great spiritual teachers say that to experience what you are experiencing – to be fully present with life – is one of the easiest things you will ever do AND one of the most difficult. For we all have layers upon layers of ideas, thoughts, daydreams, strategies, fears and distractions that keep us anywhere but here.

I invite you to take little breaks throughout the day. I call them “the pause that refreshes.” Find something you do repeatedly and bring your full attention to it for at least one minute each time you do it. If you can stay with it longer, then go for it. You can choose your morning shower, or the first bite of food whenever you sit down to eat, or a long, slow breath at every stoplight. Become creative! I cultivate being fully present when I wash my hands in the bathroom. Be willing to give yourself this gift. And if the momentum of your mind is such that you completely forget to bring presence into your life (and that will happen!) try sticky note pads, beeping watches, or a partner that you check in with every night.

As you cultivate the intention to be fully aware of life, one of the most powerful gifts you will receive is to see how much of the time you are anywhere but here! No judgment. We have only been lost in thought for decades (and humanity itself for eons). Know that just a few moments a day will make a dramatic difference in your life. Also know that every moment you return fully to life, you are not only healing yourself, but also the world!

Stay tuned for information on Mary’s next free night on November 14^th and for a big sale of her books, perfect for holiday gifts. These will be announced in her newsletter. If you haven’t signed up yet, follow this link: https://forms.aweber.com/form/47/1780654447.htm