Staying in the Moment

 photo by j. festin

Except for one of us, all the rest in our household are fully vaccinated. But because of the delta variant, we still need to be very careful about distancing, not catching something from someone outside. What a life! I can imagine how young children growing up during these times are really growing up in a different world.  For a while, we thought that after suffering through the painful effects of the vaccinations, that we could look forward to going out and having a lot more freedom of movement and interaction. But not so.

So it is becoming very clear that making a go of our life now has a lot to do with living with this reality of covid. It will be here to stay for a number of years. How many, we really do not know. Even the reality of people getting sick and some dying during these times, we need to make space for. To accept, to live with. To still hold ourselves together in hope, and in faith.

As I realise this, I realise too that one key to maintaining peace within is to stay focused in the present moment. In whatever I am doing in the moment. So if I am now blogging, then to stay focused on my blogging. If I am brushing my teeth, then to stay in that moment, that activity. Allow the activity to unfold, allow my being to give and receive in those seconds, those minutes that I am there. 

In zen, this is like being the sky. Clouds of all shapes and forms pass. Enter and exit. Light and darkness also come and go. Rain, snow, ice, wind... everything comes and goes. And yet when we look up, sky is still there. Sky is still. 

Covid tsunami came into our home and left. Covid germs raged through my body, and for the most part has left. I also recall the storm surge of typhoon Yolanda and how it ravaged and razed to the ground life in Tacloban. We were there in 2013 and witnessed with our own two eyes the debris all over the place. But Tacloban has been able to get back on its feet. At that time, there was a huge billboard sign which said, "Bumangon ka, Tacloban" and it has.  But it took time,

Just like recovering from covid. By first week of September, it will be 5 months since hospitalisation. Something I had to really learn through experience was that whenever I would be impatient with my recovery, or if not impatient, when I would get excited with progress and try to push it beyond the actual right pacing, there would be a rebound in terms of body pain. This happened several times, like trying to drum into my head that I really need to slow down, to pace, to be more respectful of what is, in the moment. 

In many ways, everyone has that tendency.. to push forward, to get excited about the forward motion, the progress... The balancing factor though, so that we do not go beyond what is best for now, is to practice really staying in the moment. 

Staying in the moment does not necessarily mean being slow, being complacent, laid back, lazy. Staying in the moment could be anything, for anyone, depending on where that action originates from. If it originates from a desire to discover peace and to live life with joy, it is a worthy way. Peace always starts from within. Peace always enlarges when what is, is allowed to unfold, to expand, to feel its way. 

So when I am blogging, if I can feel my blogging, be in tune with the rhythm and the music of my blogging, listen to this music, allow it to permeate, then I can experience the gift of peace offering itself in this moment.  If I am cleaning a dirty chair, the same. There is a rhythm, a music that the activity or the silence of the moment of cleaning exudes, emits. Yes, even silence exudes and emits a rhythm, a music. When we tune in to it, simply by staying in this moment of cleaning the chair, we may be able to receive the music, to listen to the beat of it. To receive the gift of peace that it exudes and offers. 

When we do not stay in the moment, when our thoughts are so taken up and preoccupied with worries and concerns about the future, we will not feel, taste, touch, hear, smell the activity of the moment. We will not know the beat. We will be unable to receive and hold the peace that the activity exudes and offers in the moment. So much is then lost.

I know this, because I sometimes catch myself doing one thing when my mind is elsewhere. It's like going through the motions of doing something without giving much thought to what I am doing. And when it is done, I sometimes don't even realise it it done. Yes, much is lost. Plus, this way of being is not as peaceful.

Sometimes also, being too concerned about the future makes me forget to simply appreciate who I already have become in the present. I don't mean becoming someone big and famous. But rather, just simply whatever I already am. Like if I have evolved into someone who enjoys listening to people's stories about themselves, or someone who just truly gets energised by flowers and the colors of nature, or someone who appreciates quiet, simple presence and companionship, then these are aspects of myself that I can appreciate and find joy in my being me. Staying in this will bring peace. It's not about having more to do and more to grow, to be at peace.  I guess the term "rest in peace" is actually apt. We always say,  "May the departed rest in peace."  We can actually wish for each of the living, "May you and I rest in peace."  Sounds shocking? Haha, but isn't this what we may actually really want for ourselves? That we may we rest in peace. Rest, as opposed to having to do more and more to be at peace. Instead, just to BE peace.  The word REST is actually great. Stay in the present moment, and here you will find rest. Rest in the moment. The moment will bring you peace. So may you rest in peace, and live fully. The emptiness of the resting will bring the fullness of peace. Empty and full again! :-)

I like the flowers here very much. Not only for their colour but more because of their symbolic designs. Like with the orange flowers above, we each have a core. And from that core, when we stay in the moment, our core can exude and emit outward love, peace and joy. It can reach out and touch other flowers. And in so doing, we can become a community that gives and takes this peace. We rest together, side by side with each other, each with our core, but also together, with each one's core. We become a symphony of flowers, a possible symphony of peace. All in the moment.

Back now to the world of work. Staying in the moment of work. And when work is done, staying in the moment of rest. Moment after moment. Each with a potential for peace, for fullness. Amidst the delta variant's looming threat to turn us into an object where people say, "May she now rest in peace," let us instead make space for the covid with all it's coming variants that are here to stay for sometime. Let us  be the one to tell ourselves, may we find time to stay in the moment. May we rest in the peace of the moment. Whatever moment, be it work, or non-work. Finding the empty (peace) in the full (work). Finding full (peace) in the empty (work). In whatever we do, and in however we are, may we stay in the moment till we find peace.

photo by j. festin