Relishing Life

Do you wish you had a time machine?  To go back into the past and re-experience moments of your life, or to visit some future self?  But think about this – how often do we re-live the past, or plan for the future?  We do this constantly – we are always in a time machine!  The fact is we can either live in the past, present, or future.  The past is but memories… those moments are not now.  And the future is just imagination, it is also not now.  The present is now.  It is time we got out of our time machines and experienced now.

What is now like?  It is exuberant and vibrant with sensations.  There are waves of perceptions coming in every second.  The body is alive with the senses.  The mind is buzzing.  Emotions are playing.  There is a vibration.  Energy is constantly dancing.  Can you see it?  Most of are totally blind to this opulence of experience.  The mind is a filtering machine, shutting down everything that is not deemed necessary to serve the personality.  But if we can learn to set the mind aside, for example in meditation, and turn up awareness… then we begin to notice such riches in even the most ordinary moment.

Certainly you’ve felt this before – perhaps in a particularly spectacular sunset, or brilliant night sky, or staring into the eyes of a beloved pet.  Just for a second, you are there, and everything feels so sumptuous, and you feel so alive!  There is an intensity to it all.  Hello, welcome to the present moment.

Well, the present moment is the inevitable now.  It could not be any other way.  We tend of judge it, label it, clutch it or repel it, and all of this strips away the magic.  But if we can simply be open with keen awareness, then suddenly the flavors encased in the now explode.  It really doesn’t matter what is physically happening, it all just feels lush, rich, vibrant, almost overwhelming.

The present moment is a dish served to you by the universe.  Relish every sundry bite in full awareness.  Sometimes it feels sweet, sometimes bitter, possibly sharp and edgy, or perhaps soft and timid… whatever comes is accepted with humility and gratitude, without judgement.  Look for how the sensations show up – in the mind, or emotions, or body, or whatever.  Surrender.  Can you imagine what your experience of life would be if this was abiding in every living moment?  This is why we practice yoga – to find union and be in existence seamlessly.