Every day we have moments when we get a glimpse into the deep beauty of the world. It may be as simple as a shared conversation, a glass of wine, a walk in nature. However, sometimes we are so preoccupied that we do not have the time or the space to notice.
You know what the issue is with the world?
Everyone wants some magical solution to their problem
and [yet] everyone refuses to believe in magic
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
photo phil champion
As we go through our daily activities, we frequently get lost in thoughts of past and future, not staying grounded in the awareness of our bodies. A simple reminder that we’re lost in thought is the very common feeling of rushing. Rushing is a feeling of toppling forward. Our minds run ahead of us, focusing on where we want to go, instead of settling into our bodies where we are.
Learn to pay attention to this feeling of rushing — which does not particularly have to do with how fast we are going. We can feel rushed while moving slowly, and we can be moving quickly and still be settled in our bodies. Either way, we’re likely not present. If you can, notice what thought or emotion has captured the attention. Then, just for a moment, stop and settle back into the body: feel the foot on the ground, feel the next step.
Joseph Goldstein, A Heart Full of Peace
When the shadow cast
by my past
meets the shadow
cast by my future,
I become the door
that opens both ways,
I become the conch shell
at the water’s edge:
one ocean outside me,
the other within.
Gregory Orr, American Poet, born 1947, Some Notes on Shadows
The swallows are gathering in the evenings now, and look as if they are getting ready to depart. Their natural freedom lies within us, not something outside that we need to attain or become. It is often our fears that prevent us from accessing it, and we choose to stay safe rather than risk the journey:
Look at the birds.
Even flying
is born
out of nothing.
The first sky
is inside you, my friend, open
at either end of day.
The work of wings
was always freedom, fastening
one heart to every falling thing.
Li Young Lee, One Heart
photo Takashi Hososhima
The past is a memory,
the future is uncertain,
now is the knowing.
Ajahn Sumedho
photo glacierNPS
Something deep inside us seems always to think that the answer to life’s challenges is to do more and push harder. And modern working life encourages this, with its demands to produce more, and these messages keep the mind leaping to the next task or challenge. And so we live a lot of the time in the future, thinking that our security comes from something that will happen there. In a practical sense this means that we will spend a lot of moments today trying to get somewhere else. The different wisdom traditions tell us that mental health is related to resisting this, and to living more in the present:
Before a step is taken, the goal is reached;
Before the tongue is moved, the speech is finished.
Though each move is ahead of the next,
There is still a transcendent secret.
Mumon’s Commentary on Kempo’s One Way , in the 48-koan collection The Gateless Gate
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