The Gift Of Just Now

Our existence is something quite miraculous, yet we are so familiar with it that we take it for granted. In this guided meditation, let Tony remind you that we should see the world around us with awe and wonder. If we look at things through the eyes of a child we can be happy and content "just now".

Transcript

Dear friends,

Welcome to this meditation.

Today I will offer you one or two thoughts that might help us to see the miraculous.

We will not be looking for the miraculous in the miraculous,

We will be looking for the miraculous in the ordinary.

This will help us to enjoy living in the present moment which we will call the just now.

How extraordinary it is that we can waste this time.

How can we waste this wonderful present moment living for tomorrow and looking back on yesterday?

Isn't it very odd when you think of it?

We can spend the irreplaceable moments of today reliving the events of yesterday.

It's as if we are existing in this present moment but looking to be somewhere else,

Somewhere better.

Let's take just one minute to breathe and to at least notice our breath coming to us in this present moment.

We come into the present by simply breathing,

Simply breathing in and simply breathing out.

What is it about the present moment,

The just now,

That makes it so difficult to enjoy?

The just now is a place in which to enjoy the life that we have here in our very hands.

It's as if we are at the window of a fast moving train.

We find ourselves constantly straining our necks to look forward.

We find ourselves wistfully looking back.

All the time ignoring the goings-on right outside the window or even in the carriage beside us.

This is despite our vague awareness that change is inevitable.

It's despite the intellectual knowledge that eventually we will lose everything.

Even so the seeming regularity and very reliability of our everyday blessings causes us to ignore them.

The regularity causes us to take them for granted as if they'll always be with us.

Let us breathe again.

This time with a sense of gratitude for all that we have.

Again simply breathing in and simply breathing out.

Just imagine if the stars only came out on one night in 25 years.

Better still imagine that they only came out once in 50 years.

Can you just see how we would all be out on our deck chairs?

We'd all be set up on our cushions looking up at this miracle of nature.

Viewing stands would be erected,

Catering and entertainment would be laid on,

Holidays arranged to coincide with the event,

Tickets booked,

Friends coming together all to witness this.

Notice for example how we excitedly watch out even travel long distances to witness an eclipse.

How we watch for Halley's Comet whose orbit only brings it into our view every 86 years.

All through my childhood and youth I waited for its schedule to return around 1986.

I had been told,

I'd read that on its last visit in the early 20th century it had been so bright as to be visible by day.

1986 was a year that was marked in my calendar.

I so much looked forward I loved astronomy but I waited in vain.

What a poor showing Halley's Comet was on its 1986 visit.

This was an event which I knew for me would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

There could of course be the most extraordinary developments in science and medicine but in reality I will not be here to see Halley's Comet on its next expected approach in 2061.

At least that's one future event that will not tempt me to waste my present by looking forward in hope to the future.

Most of the time the night sky is hardly noticed by most of us.

Sky offers the possibility of the most profound contemplation.

This neglect continues even if we are fortunate enough to live in a dark sky area.

Dark sky areas indicate the increasingly few areas where light pollution hasn't diminished our views of the night sky and its wonders.

If we think about it at all we dismiss the night sky as being just there.

So what's the big deal?

But there is a big deal.

Max Ehrman of Desiderata fame offers some perspective on this.

He refers to the neglect of the wonders visible above our heads in his poem The Moon.

This is what he says,

I would if I could bring back into fashion the moon and the stars,

The dawn and the sunset.

I rarely hear anyone speak of them.

One would think these perpetual wonders had passed from sight.

There is peace and rest in the contemplation of these miracles that nature paints on the canvas of the sky.

But we do not want peace and rest.

We are enamored of noise and motion.

A Saint Vitus dance has seized us.

Things must change.

The nerves have a limit of endurance.

Tonight I looked at the moon for a while.

There was a faint circle around it.

A friend came by and asked what was I looking at.

I pointed to the moon.

I don't see anything.

The moon I said.

He chuckled and went on.

He will report me as growing queer.

The mystery of the night and our own mystery.

Who knows what we are.

No science has yet grasped us.

The moon,

The beautiful mystical moon,

Playing nightly to empty seats.

Words of Max Ehrman.

Let us come back to the breath.

Perhaps this time we could recall some of the beauty we have seen in the world around us.

Welcome back to Earth.

So here we are looking out of the railway carriage of life.

Always believing that the next hour will be better than this hour.

Always expecting that tomorrow will be more exciting than today.

Always imagining that next year will surely be an improvement on this.

Always living in that constantly failing illusion.

The belief that our next acquisition will finally lead to happiness.

Perhaps it is because this present moment is so present.

This present moment so close,

So commonplace,

So always there that we don't notice it at all.

The present moment is as familiar as faded wallpaper.

As taken for granted as the ground beneath our feet.

Thoughts of yesterday can be full of excitement but we recall just the good events,

Our successes.

Dreams of tomorrow contain the promise of future excitement but we look forward only to our future successes.

We forget the hard work that gets us there.

By comparison today is just so ordinary,

So just now.

But amazingly the just now is the miracle point in time where we exist and live.

The just now is where we live and move and have our very being.

Still we get bored with the just now but let us remember this.

It was in one past just now that we were conceived.

It was in another past just now that we were born.

We were not conceived or born in a yesterday.

We will not die in a tomorrow.

We will die in a future just now.

Let us breathe again and this time trying to see if we can just be.

Welcome back.

So the challenge is to find ways to bring ourselves back.

We need an increased appreciation of what is happening in and around us in this present moment,

This very just now.

How can we remember to come back to the present?

How do we bring our minds and our bodies into the same place?

How do we bring them into this one place where we are just now?

The breath is a great help in this effort.

After all we cannot survive on the breathed out air of yesterday and as for tomorrow its air will not be presented to us until tomorrow.

Jan Chosen Bays has written a book how to train a wild elephant and other adventures in mindfulness.

In that book she recommends taking just one aspect of our day at a time.

She asks us to practice trying to attend to that aspect mindfully.

It could be the action of cleaning our teeth,

It could be washing the dishes,

Eating our breakfast.

She urges that we try to form the habit of performing one action mindfully for a period,

Let's say a month.

Then when that habit has been formed another can be added,

Then another and another until over time we are living more and more of our lives in the present.

It's an idea well worth trying just one step at a time,

One month at a time.

Why would we want to do that?

Just stop to think about it,

Just stop to think about the reality.

This present moment,

This just now and our existence in it is nothing short of a miracle.

Our existence in this wonderful world which we inhabit almost defies belief.

How can it be so?

How can such a gift even be imagined?

How can it be real?

How can this be happening?

Conor Oberst says this,

If the world could remain within a frame like a painting on a wall I think we'd see the beauty then and stand staring in awe.

That quote gives us something to think about.

When did we look upon the world around us with the attention that we would give to a painting?

Henry Miller tells us that the moment one gives close attention to anything even a blade of grass something happens.

It becomes mysterious,

Awesome,

Indescribably a magnificent world in itself and that is just one blade of grass.

Carl Sagan tells us a blade of grass is a commonplace on earth but it would be a miracle on Mars.

Our descendants on Mars will know the value of a patch of green and if a blade of grass is priceless what is the value of a human being?

Can you just imagine the worldwide excitement which will be caused on the day when scientists discover any life whatsoever outside planet Earth?

Even the most minute organism on a planet other than Earth would cause worldwide excitement.

The day of discovery would be a day to be celebrated for as long as humanity survives.

All in honor of just one blade of grass even a two-celled organism for that matter.

Now let's close our eyes for one final minute of mindful breathing.

Recall what beauty and benefits we've seen around us in the last 24 hours.

Better still open our eyes and look around.

Notice the beauty that surrounds us here just now.

The memory and the sight should fill us with awe and wonder.

Breathing in and being aware that we are breathing in.

Breathing out and being aware that we are breathing out.

A quote from Achean Cramaric.

If we experienced life through the eyes of a child everything would be magical and extraordinary.

Let our curiosity,

Adventure and wonder of life never end.

So really look around in this present moment.

This just now.

Consider the miracle that is just one blade of common grass.

Take it in hand and look at it.

Can we ever again look upon the present moment or the world around us as routine,

Ordinary?

Can we ever again look upon the miraculous and think of it as just ordinary?

We live in a wonderful,

Wonderful world.

Our thanks for this should know no bounds.

Namaste.

Reviews

My husband is requesting to only meditate/listen to you!

Hi, again, Tony, this meditation came up as a recommendation on IT. I had not listened to it before, oddly enough.
Wonderful, clear insight into the amazing privilege we each have to live…on Earth…just now! The very secret of life is just to understand that one fact.
Thank you so much as always for these conversations, Tony!
Donna

Amazing! A mind and senses awakening to the miracle of our presence.
Thank you Tony ✨🙏🏼🌹

Always when I listen to you the message is exactly what I needed. Thank you so much for your support on this journey!

So simple so true and so beautiful Tony thank you for the here and now 🧚‍♀️💕🧚‍♀️

Wonderful meditation and reflections, as always. Thank you, Tony! 🙏🏻

Oh Tony! I usually have so much to say… but today I’m speechless. This was so beautiful and exactly what I needed. I’m so peaceful at this moment in time and it feels amazing.
I thank you.🙏🏻💕 You my friend are such a gift. Blessings to you.

A most gracious way to start my day. I cannot thank you enough.🙏

I’m going to try to do one thing mindfully everyday; and appreciate my blessings. Things seem so chaotic in the world now so living in the moment is a gift. Namaste Tony 🙏🏻🌺

I feel so grateful to appreciate the ordinary. A gentle reminder to practice this goes a long way.

This meditation is as extraordinary as this very moment is! Many thanks for the focus on ‘just now’. 🤓🙏🏻

Beautiful thought provoking meditation Tony, thank you 🙏🙏

Thank you. This was perfect for a middle of the night wake up when the stars were wonderous in the dark sky and I fell back into deep sleep. Namaste.

Exactly what I needed to hear this morning. How easy it is to take my miraculous life for granted. Thank you for the reminder. Loved it!

Beautiful reminder to be present in this moment. Thank you so much Tony for giving the gift of your wisdom. 🙏

Thanks a lot Tony 🙏🏽 love the quotes and the focus on here and now ❤️

Go raibh maith agat Tony for another thought provoking meditation and enjoyable poetry. The bell at the end is just the right tune and I love to listen to it to the very very end. ✨🌎✨

Thank you so much!

Thanks for the reminder Tony. I have been coming to this realization recently that the stream of now flows past us like a river. The past is now, the future is now, the now is now, don’t waste it. I enjoy your thoughtful words.

Really enjoyed this today. Thank you 🙏🏼