Be Here Now

"I am" as you inhale
"Here now" as you exhale
A beautiful person pointed out that this mantra, although wonderful and powerful, was also very hard. It isn't always easy to be here now. But here we are. What I said to her and what I say to anyone that will listen is that I must trust my soul. I don't always love the moments but I trust that I am in them for good reasons and those will appear later. In the meantime, particularly in these busy times, I will just show up.

I am a planner and so am often far from present as I map out all of the ways in which I can avoid disaster or missteps in my days or weeks. This is a form of control, of catastrophe aversion when no catastrophe may actually befall me. It is as though I must be on guard for any possibility, never caught off guard. What a waste of my moments to be constantly concerned for what may come, when what is here is really very lovely or at least not life threatening. What is here is manageable if I use my energy wisely, which includes, putting down the catastrophe swatters that I carry.

But in truth there are times that are harder than others and we just want to move out of the discomfort. Here is my suggestion.... Take a breath and feel yourself truly present in your energetic body. That bubble you have around you of personal space can be centered around you in these times. Imagine physically shifting the walls of the bubble to more evenly surround you. Now take another breath. What is actually required of you in this moment? What do you really need to do? Can you listen?

No matter how much control we would like to wield over this life, in the end, we discover that we can only show up in the moments with curiosity and questions. I don't know how it is going to work out but I know that it is. Maybe Dev Patel's character in the Marigold Hotel had it right:
"Everything will be alright in the end and if it is not yet alright, then it is not the end."

You are in good hands. Be here now.