Welcome to my contemplative reflection.
Then and there.
Is now,
Where life is happening.
Take a moment and simply notice where you are.
Perhaps you're sitting or lying down.
Perhaps you are listening while walking,
Resting,
Or going about your day.
Just notice.
You're here.
Life is here.
We often speak about being present.
About staying in the now.
About letting go of the past.
And not worrying about the future.
And somehow even being present.
Can become another thing we are supposed to do well.
Another self-improvement project.
I should be more present?
I need to let go.
I need to stop thinking so much.
I need to live in the now.
And so on.
But what if we don't have to make ourselves present?
As the present moment is already here.
Perhaps the invitation is not to become present.
But simply to notice what is here.
Because our body may be here.
While our mind is somewhere else.
Sometimes our mind is living in then.
In what has already happened.
Revisiting what happened.
What we said.
What someone else said.
What should have happened.
What we wish had been different.
And sometimes our mind is living in there,
Somewhere ahead of us.
Thinking about what might happen.
What we need to prepare for.
What we hope for.
What we fear.
Then.
.
.
There.
And meanwhile,
Something very simple is happening.
NOW!
Now is not another destination we have to reach.
Now is where life is already happening.
Right here.
This breath.
This sensation.
This sound.
This moment of awareness.
This life.
As it is.
And perhaps we don't have to push them away.
The past is part of our story.
It has shaped us.
It has taught us.
It may still carry tenderness,
Grief,
Joy,
Wisdom.
But can we allow the past to be part of our story without asking it to become our present?
And perhaps we don't have to push.
There to weigh either.
The future will come.
There may be things to plan.
Things to create.
Things to care about.
But can we allow the future to remain unknown without making it responsible for our peace today?
Then and there can be held while we return to now.
Not because now is better.
Because now is where life is happening.
See if you can feel the difference between trying to be present and simply being available to what is here.
You don't have to concentrate.
You don't have to empty your mind.
You don't have to stop thinking.
Just become curious.
What is here right now that I haven't been available to receive?
Perhaps.
.
.
There is a sound you hadn't noticed.
A sensation in your body.
The movement of your breath.
A feeling that has been quietly waiting to be felt.
Perhaps there's something in this moment that asks nothing from you.
And perhaps for just a moment.
You can allow yourself to receive it.
There is something else I have discovered in my own journey.
When I stop trying to figure out what comes next,
Something becomes quieter.
And in that quiet,
I can listen.
Not for an answer.
Not for a plan.
But for what is already emerging.
Perhaps now is not only where life is happening.
Perhaps now is where listening can happen,
Where life is alive.
So instead of asking,
What should I do next?
Perhaps for a moment,
Simply ask.
What is life asking me to notice now?
And then,
Don't rush to answer.
Listen.
Maybe there's nothing to do.
Maybe there is something.
Maybe there's simply this breath.
This moment.
Is life.
And perhaps that is enough.
Then and there I will come.
It belonged to our human experience.
But they don't have to be where we live.
Because we can remember.
Then it's no longer happening.
There has not yet happened.
And now.
Now it's alive.
You don't have to get to now.
You are already here.
The invitation is simply.
.
.
To be here enough to meet your life.
So before you continue with whatever comes next in your day.
.
.
Take a conscious breath.
Feel yourself here.
And perhaps whisper inwardly.
I am here.
Life is here.
And I'm willing to meet it.
And now let whatever comes next come.
Not from a place of having to now.
But from being here.
Here.
Where life is happening.
Here.
In the only moment.
You can actually live.
Now.
