Showing posts with label being in the moment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label being in the moment. Show all posts

The ebb and flow: navigating the tides of change


Just as the seasons come and go, the tides rise and fall, days make way for nights… each day, week, month, year has its own rhythm.

I’m definitely in a summer rhythm. A flurry of spring projects completed, fall not yet on the horizon, it’s time for catching up, clearing up, but especially a time for family events.

As I sit on a park bench watching my granddaughter swing on the monkey bars, I chat with another grandmother. I flash back to all those years ago when I was watching my own children at the park, now here I am 30-40+ years later, and history repeats itself, albeit so much has changed and it’s a new little person on those monkey bars.

And me? Enjoying the difference of perspectives that a generation brings, the blessing of being a full time grandmother for a summer week, witnessing the interaction between my 89-year-old mother and my seven-year-old granddaughter.

The demands of the workplace seem to have taken a back seat for now, and just as surely as I know the moon will rise and the tide will come in, I trust that the season of full time work engagement will return. 

For now, it’s time to surrender to Legos and puzzles and parks, to go with this flow, knowing I will be fully present when the next tide of work events surges in.

It seems like a simple thing, to just be in the now with what is happening, but so often our attention is divided and we are never fully neither here or there, but caught between our thoughts of where we should be, or could be, or would rather be. I know, I’ve been there.

So wherever you are dear reader, just be there, and know that it will change.






A break through while washing the dishes




On a recent Sunday morning, Edward Viljoen spoke about Seva, the Sanskrit word for sacred service and the different ways in which Seva differs from volunteering. Although both involve actually doing something, volunteering simply means freely offering to do a task or set of tasks. The key element in Seva, however, is the consciousness we hold while doing the task, the recognition that we are offering our time, our energy, our skill in service to God, or whatever term we may want to use to convey that sense of Oneness and Connection.

Chopping carrots, with love

He recounted the story of Dr James Golden, also a recent speaker at our Center for Spiritual Living, who was given the task of chopping carrots during a Buddhist meditation retreat. Chopping away with great efficiency, true to his military KP training, he was shocked when the monks told him he was doing it all wrong. They proceeded to demonstrate the exact quarter inch by quarter inch size the carrots needed to be. Staring at the crates of carrots waiting to be chopped for the monastery’s lunch, he expressed his concern that he would not be able to chop all the carrots as instructed in time. The monks reassured him that what was important was that he chop them with love, and that no doubt the right amount of carrots would be ready by lunchtime. Huge break through for him, as he realized that indeed the consciousness with which he approached this Seva was what mattered, rather than his efficiency in accomplishing the task.

What matters most, consciousness or efficiency?

Reflecting on this story as I dashed home from the morning service to wash the breakfast dishes I had left piled up in the sink in my mad rush to bake cookies (Seva) in time for the morning bake sale, and proceeding to buzz through the dirty dishes as fast as possible so I could get on to the next thing on my list… (this being Sunday, no less!) I was struck by the startling revelation that I too was totally focused on efficiency rather than my connection to the One life. And not just while performing Seva. I started wondering how many moments of my life am I so focused on getting the task done and being efficient that I loose sight of my place in the grander scheme of things, the wonder of Life, the magic of each moment, the sacred web of love which unites all living things…

And so, I paused, took a deep breath, and surrendered to the moment, to washing the dishes with love, to being truly present to each moment in my life.