A Present

Life is present.

Here.

Now.

The things you are thinking about doing, the things you wonder about happening, the things you fear or of which you dream, ... they aren't now.

The things you remember, which swirl around and grip your mind, the regrets and wish-you-could-do-overs, the blissful times to which you wish you could return, ... they aren't now.

Suffering arises because we expect things to be other than they are.  The present is what it is.  And what a delicious present that is.  

Even as I type this, my daughter pelts me with questions.  A stream of, "mommy, mommy, mommy..." sets the rhythm as I try to type.  I have stopped and repeatedly answered, redirected both her and my attention, suffered and then breathed.  I have sent her upstairs (whining, of course).  

I am not interested in the correctness of my decision.  I am interested in the level of expectation I have about how this moment should be playing out.  It is the expectation of how the rhythm of life should be that creates any suffering we may experience...not the music itself.

It is a practice.  If you feel tension, be with that tension instead of fighting it and turning to anger, dreaming but not doing, or simply sinking into lethargy.  Feel where the tension arises.  It is a meditative presence that is not comfortable.  Be present with that.

As you feel called, move.  Note where tension increases and where it lessons.  Note where and when suffering arises and when it subsides.  Always be present to the truth of the moment so as not to fall into a egotistical-comfort, an illusory avoidance of suffering that actually creates more.

Feeling lost?  Just return to the breath - the flow that re-minds our body of its pure existence in the only place it can exist - right here.  

My wish for you?  That you are present.  That you may live.

Namaste.