Africa living in the moment
I sat down to enjoy reading a book the other day and I caught myself also turning on the television. I caught myself and I realized that I was trying to multitask reading which stunned me and disappointed me.
It seems that everyone, including me, is trying to do more than one thing at once and I realized that some of my best times are when I am doing just one thing and thinking about nothing else. I was reading another blog and they used the phrasing “splendour of the moment” and I thought to myself how much better it is to live that in the moment instead of on autopilot while we multitask and are tuned out.
Think about these examples of mindfulness and living in the splendour of the moment.
Catching the last rays of the day
Sitting along a lake with a crackling campfire, the sun going down, the fire popping and crackling as the light fades. Soon the lake is dark and the fire dims, I can smell the smoke and I’m thinking how happy I feel being out of touch from emails and texts.
I can’t make this fancy a drink
A day of cold fresh air and exercise in the wintertime, tobogganing and laughing and then a nice warm mug of cocoa with marshmallows warming my fingers as I savour the rib soreness from laughter.
Being in the delivery room for the arrival of my long awaited firstborn. I am excited, nervous, joyful. Telling myself to capture the memory so I never forget every second.
The wonder of watching my daughter walk across the grass in her wedding dress, wonderstruck at the beautiful independent woman she has become. She looks so happy!
My bike at Okanagan lake
The first sunny day my son learned to ride a two wheel bike independently and I can’t keep up running along side to protect him, and I feel proud, and a little worried.
The first breath of wind on my face after five long months in hospital, I feel real excited to be going home finally, and tired.
What I learned is that I need to slow down and spend more time right now experiencing life while it is happening. I have just this one life.
Here is where I think it could be really interesting – pretty please add as a comment below any memory or time that you lived in the splendour of the moment.
Thank you for sharing.
This week I learned a lesson about light from a rabbi.
However, not so with darkness. Darkness needs only a candle to beat back darkness, more darkness does not vanquish a candle. The rabbi used this metaphor for darkness in the world and people’s lives. He encouraged us to light our own candles and keep them lit. He said light a candle for someone else or help them to light their own.
It is winter, dark and cold but I hope that we can all light a candle for ourselves, or help someone by being a light, dispelling the dark of loneliness, addiction, or helping to someone else light their candle and keeping us warm as well.
That was Friday, and I finally returned home Sunday afternoon after spending two nights at the hospital and I will spare you the details except I stayed an extra day after reacting to the drug treatment and my tongue swelled up until I was unable to swallow and only barely breathe. After eight hours of that, I was much more understanding of people who have allergies.
Thanks for taking time to read, and comment.
Life and Random Thinking 