Being Consciously Present and Aware
May. 29th, 2011 04:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cedar_groveFrom The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.
…so, it is the risk to be fully present that opens us to the Oneness that flows through all things, the way a spring brook flows from your acre through my fence, through my land, and on through my neighbour's fence and land. Just as that rush of water ignores all we have built in between, so the wholeness of life moves through us all, undermining all the walls we maintain.
A few days ago, I wrote about a walk between two schools in a lunch time that opened me to the world around me, to what was going on and to the things I could see and feel and hear in nature around me. This awakening entry brings me back to that moment… to those thoughts and to the observation I made that I need to take more walks in nature. I need to be actively noticing those things, not just passively so, as has been the case where I will occasionally walk past something and notice a leaf or a flower or something similar and having taken only a little notice, go on with whatever I was doing and sadly, sooner or later, I have forgotten about the observation, or the moment. It has passed, and is going into the back of my mind. I say sadly because it shouldn't be this way.
So you can't or perhaps you can imagine how much I smiled when, along with the email in which I got this awakening exercise, Mir had included the first of my assignments. I should probably explain that. Mir and I are going to be sharing some teaching and learning and inspirational exercises together. She has asked me to give her some English teaching/tutoring, and in return she will be giving me writing prompts and assignments to help give my reluctant muse a much needed kick in the posterior. I'm very excited by all of this, and raring to go, so it's been hard to wait until today – the day when we agreed that we would start, to give us both time to prepare.
Anyway, I got my first assignment today, and it's all about observation and noticing and describing and it is just the kind of thing that's perfect for the kind of 'being present in the moment' kind of thinking that this entry is all about. So that's why I'm smiling, because I have a picture to describe, and a series of observations to make and that's just so perfect, (and can I just say that the picture is one of Mir's most excellent photographs – she's such a brilliant photographer – even if that is a biased statement, I don't care, it's what I truly believe).
There is such thought and love and everything that has quite obviously gone into all these things that she's going to be telling me to do, I can hardly express how much I'm moved by all of this. This is a wonderful and an exciting thing to be doing, an exciting time, and in a way something that transcends and cancels out, or reaches across the distance – physical distance – that is between us, to bring us closer together. I don't know how much sense that makes, but I know what I mean. It gives us both the chance to be more fully 'present' in each others lives, without overwhelming each other, without suffocating each other, just being; being a part of what is in each others lives. It's going to be great, and no amount of thank yous is enough. Can you tell I'm excited about this?
For the raindrop,
joy is entering the river.
--The Sufi Prophet Ghalib
…so, it is the risk to be fully present that opens us to the Oneness that flows through all things, the way a spring brook flows from your acre through my fence, through my land, and on through my neighbour's fence and land. Just as that rush of water ignores all we have built in between, so the wholeness of life moves through us all, undermining all the walls we maintain.
A few days ago, I wrote about a walk between two schools in a lunch time that opened me to the world around me, to what was going on and to the things I could see and feel and hear in nature around me. This awakening entry brings me back to that moment… to those thoughts and to the observation I made that I need to take more walks in nature. I need to be actively noticing those things, not just passively so, as has been the case where I will occasionally walk past something and notice a leaf or a flower or something similar and having taken only a little notice, go on with whatever I was doing and sadly, sooner or later, I have forgotten about the observation, or the moment. It has passed, and is going into the back of my mind. I say sadly because it shouldn't be this way.
So you can't or perhaps you can imagine how much I smiled when, along with the email in which I got this awakening exercise, Mir had included the first of my assignments. I should probably explain that. Mir and I are going to be sharing some teaching and learning and inspirational exercises together. She has asked me to give her some English teaching/tutoring, and in return she will be giving me writing prompts and assignments to help give my reluctant muse a much needed kick in the posterior. I'm very excited by all of this, and raring to go, so it's been hard to wait until today – the day when we agreed that we would start, to give us both time to prepare.
Anyway, I got my first assignment today, and it's all about observation and noticing and describing and it is just the kind of thing that's perfect for the kind of 'being present in the moment' kind of thinking that this entry is all about. So that's why I'm smiling, because I have a picture to describe, and a series of observations to make and that's just so perfect, (and can I just say that the picture is one of Mir's most excellent photographs – she's such a brilliant photographer – even if that is a biased statement, I don't care, it's what I truly believe).
There is such thought and love and everything that has quite obviously gone into all these things that she's going to be telling me to do, I can hardly express how much I'm moved by all of this. This is a wonderful and an exciting thing to be doing, an exciting time, and in a way something that transcends and cancels out, or reaches across the distance – physical distance – that is between us, to bring us closer together. I don't know how much sense that makes, but I know what I mean. It gives us both the chance to be more fully 'present' in each others lives, without overwhelming each other, without suffocating each other, just being; being a part of what is in each others lives. It's going to be great, and no amount of thank yous is enough. Can you tell I'm excited about this?
