If life beyond cancer and meditation has taught me anything, it’s the importance of living in the present moment. I’m not always there, believe me. I am often reliving the past or planning the future, but I’m working on it.
As this moment is the third day of a three-day weekend, I have to ask myself, “What am I doing on the computer?” This is officially a weekend day to be with my husband and children, who are going back to school in just two more days. I should be relaxing, but I have a problem making myself do that. I definitely need to take time to stop and smell the flowers, yet here I sit.
So, I’m going to make this Meditation Monday post short and sweet. Setting an intention really helps place yourself in the moment. One of my favorites is the chant: Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu. Loosely translated, it means, “May the entire Universe be filled with Peace and Joy, Love and Light.”
I will be meditating today by simply being. I will plug in to the people around me. For today, I will forego virtual social contact for actual contact. I will be present and unrushed. I will laugh and share and I will connect. I will consider work a four letter word to be avoided until tomorrow, when it all begins again. And I will be glad for the opportunity to live in the present with the people I love the most. If I can do that, then the Universe, or at least my little piece of it, will truly be filled with Peace and Joy, Love and Light.
To all my American friends, Happy Labor Day! To all of my many friends throughout the world, have a wonderful day and talk with you tomorrow.
Survival > Existence,
Debbie
Comments
You Have a Very Wise Husband
Rachel:
Yesterday, I overheard a young woman talking about her upcoming wedding this Saturday. I immediately remembered driving to a fitting filled with anxiety because I was getting married in five months to the day and I had so much to do. Our 23rd wedding anniversary is next week. I don’t know where the time goes, but I’ve learned that all we have is the present moment. I don’t even recognize that young woman anymore. She certainly didn’t have all the life experience that I have now.
When I get anxious, I try to remember the message of Eckhart Tolle’s, A New Earth Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. Since my mastectomy, I’ve read it twice. That book really made me aware of the voice in my head that lives in the past and worries about the future. Just stepping back from that voice and observing it, brings you into the present.
I’m going to remember your husband’s words too the next time time freaks me out. The truth is, if we are thoroughly enjoying what’s happening right now, we are living in the moment, with no thought of past or future. What a great place to be!
Survival > Existence,
Debbie
Debbie, Thanks for telling me
Debbie, Thanks for telling me about the book. Will have to pick it up. Do you do guided imaagery? Have been looking for a DVD or a CD. Found a website that has ones specifiic to things like anxiety and depression, even OCD.
Guided Imagery Got Me Through My Mastectomy
Rachel,
I used a guided imagery CD to get me through my mastectomy. I ordered Dr. Martin Rossman’s “Preparing for Surgery,” guided imagery exercises for relaxation and accelerated healing, and put it on my iPod. I listened to the first exercise (Preparing for a successful surgery) morning, noon and night. It really helped control my anxiety about the surgery. After the surgery, the third exercise (Healing well after surgery) always put me in a calmer, more present state. In fact, to this day I use it whenever I can’t sleep because my mind is racing. It’s rare that it doesn’t manage to put me to sleep.
You can order the CD and Tolle’s A New Earth Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, from Amazon. (Amazon Associates Link.) I’m so happy to recommend resources which have meant so much to my healing.
Survival > Existence,
Debbie
Where We Go Now 
I so need to practice being
I so need to practice being in the moment – the present. This will sound morbid, but for years before cancer I have thought too much, worried too much, about time passing and the “journey” being over too fast. Always triggers. Like today when I was watching all the 9/11 10-year anniversary stuff. Just blew my mind that it’s been 10 years since I was driving and heard it on the radio as it was happening. Literally seems to me like it just happened. And if I live to a ripe age, the next 10 years are like not quite a third of the time I have let. Sick, I know … to take this to a more positive place, I keep telling myself what my husband says when I stick him with my obsesion of time flying so fast it’s scary …
He says, “Yeah, that’s why you have to enjoy it.”