Once Upon The Moment
Once upon a time…NO! I need to stay in the moment.
For some, that may spell relief from the swirling thoughts and narratives that serve the past and the future.
For some, that may be very uncomfortable, as it is for me sometimes.
Regardless of the current state of the mind, it is all I have — this moment.
Telling stories about who I am in my head is an illusion.
Telling them to you is even more so a fantasy that bears no relation to what is actually happening, and you have no idea how to perceive it from my frame of reference.
If showing up in the moment is all that is real, then I’d better practice it as repeatedly and consistently as possible, to get a handle on showing up for what shows up.
This is the essence of non-duality practice, the investigation of ‘me’, who I am, and the gift of accepting the invitation the Universe presents in all its forms.
There is nothing else to do, to accept.
My story today is one of radical acceptance, and it doesn’t matter how hard or how simple it may be to cope with.
It makes no difference if it passes through stages of difficulty and ease, as these stages are all to be digested the same — the coming and going of moments, without prejudice or labels — Good or Bad.
Gratitude for what shows up, internally and likewise externally, is the power of feeling in the moment.
Human emotions, swaying me this way and that way are powerful reminders that my mind concocts unreal narratives about ‘what is’, and if I can see the deceptions, I win, no matter what.
I can see that my gratitude is easy sidestepped, forgotten and under-appreciated — there is a grave loss.
I can see that my gratitude is much more than I see on first appearances, when I diligently make a list, applying care to not miss a thing.
By capitalizing my appreciation, I set up my day to believe, think, feel, act, and then make real the outcomes that are waiting for me to succeed today.
This gradual exercise of mindset transformation gives rise to a new day — a new and fresh way of thinking — or not thinking so much, whatever is needed for peace, love, and serenity.
There is no distinction between a good day and a bad day, when it hasn’t happened yet, is there?
For you, is the chart of your day yet drawn, when the day is so young?
None of us can see what will happen in the future, and that is always happening now — and nobody can accurately see the past for the hindsight it will reveal, when it has just arrived from happening — most of it is merely in our heads anyways.
Seize this moment, allow the thoughts and feelings to flow as un-named and un-measured breaths and heartbeats, forgotten a moment after they conclude and move on to the next one, autonomically.
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As in, arising from the nervous system and keeping me alive without my deliberate will or intervention.
Think consciously, if you will.
Breath intentionally, if you will.
But let it go just as easily, and make room for the next moment, delivering the breath of life to seed time with continuity and grace.
I remember that I AM, I exist, and I am worthy.
I am enough — this moment is more than enough to swallow me whole as I swallow it too — just the most I can handle, but never less or more, to put a fine point upon it.
Do you remember how it was when you were a child?
You danced and laughed through the moments?
You cried and experienced traumas?
You forgot and then remembered later, all the things that had happened to you?
How many of those things were thoughts and feelings, and rather how many were actual events?
If we string together all the ideas of ‘me’ that formed my current identity, how many of them were true?
Perhaps remembering my own name was the only consistent and persistent true thought — and what does that even mean anyways?
The future is far more interesting and scary, full of this current responsibility to breathe and experience life as it truly is being.
It is inaccessible except in frail and fleeting moments, where I am powerless to do anything but process intention, love, and letting go.
It leaves, as all people, places, and things inevitably do — to move through to the next illusory things — while standing completely still, if I allow it to move as such.
We do not move, we stand still, when we finally ‘get it’.
Everything will come to us, through us, and away from us, if allowed.
Resistance to this fact causes all suffering and dread, when in fact we cannot stop the movie frames (so to speak) from arising and falling away from the self I project, moment by moment.
So why fear that things will not come, or they will come, or they left, or they never existed as I planned, hoped, or thought they happened.
Forgive. Let it go. Move on. Don’t miss the moment. It is not scary unless I paint that picture without the gratitude of all I have been given.
We practice endlessly this dance of attaining peace and prosperity — for these things are not to be avoided or counted — the numerous moments will never run out on us or leave us alone.
Forever.
