The spirit lives in the present. What we call the Heart Center - the physical "home" of the spirit within the body - is all patience, all wisdom, all love and truth. The more I strive to infuse my body and mind with this knowledge, which resonates deeply within me, the more I realize how very attached to the future my mind is, and how very affected by the past my body is. If I connect more deeply with my heart center, and through that connection with God Itself, then I am without pain of past or future.
This practice requires constant attention and dedication, but it is definitely one of the most important parts of my spiritual practice. Being fully present in each moment has helped me heal and grow more over the past few years than perhaps any other part of my practice. Please understand, when I say fully present it isn't the same as paying attention mentally to the goings-on around you. That is simply being attentive. Being present indicates that one's spirit is involved in each moment of one's life. Indeed, it is the incorporation of the spirit into the activities of daily life that takes you from being an actor in the play of your life to being the writer, producer, and director all rolled into one! So your life isn't full of things that "happen to you", but rather with things that you (your spirit) make happen.
My mind loves plans, and for many years was very future-oriented. Plans represented action (albeit kinetic action....something that was not yet actually underway, but that had the potential for activity!), and for me the constant action of all my mind's plans was the best numbing agent available to me. I was so wrapped up in the future - When will this, that, or the other dream become reality? How about if I do X, Y, or Z to make it happen? How/when shall I start my business? Where will I be in five years? Ten? Twenty? How many children, dogs, students will be in my life? What if I can't get insurance? What if I can get insurance? What if I have another ectopic pregnancy? What if nobody signs up for classes? What should I pack? - that I wasn't fully experiencing the present. I was more or less going through the movements of life, but so utterly focused on the future that my present circumstances were hollow.
My body, meanwhile, holds the stories of my past. Those responses and conditions that the keen eye picks up on, which belie not only my physical history, but my emotional past as well. So those tight glutes aren't simply from years of dancing (it's rarely - perhaps never - so simple), they hold the tales of my painful first marriage. That funny click in my shoulder reminds me of boot camp, and what can go wrong if you're in a hurry and not paying attention to your body. The "superficially cracked" tooth betrays the clenching of my jaw in my sleeping hours - what is it that my jaw would have me say when I'm awake? Being present is helping me help my body to let go of these old stories. I trust that I have learned the lessons I needed to learn (of course, if I haven't then I am sure to get another learning opportunity!). Its aches and pains and seeming betrayals of secrets are wonderful signposts along the way: glutes still sore? I must still have some work to do there. Jaw tight? Must work on speaking my truth. Etc., etc., etc. All of that is work that I must do in the present, because I cannot - and would not - go back into the past to change things. Each sign is there to point me in the right direction, to remind me what areas of my life still need some work.
Truly focusing on the present moment and helping my mind let go of its variety of plans for the future, while nurturing my body to release the ages-old stress/pain/wounds of the past is a gift that is worth the effort. The mind and body are useful tools in learning to live in the present, but the process must be governed by the spirit. Healing goes hand-in-hand with present-ness. When we are really living in the present, and are fully participating in our lives the body responds by releasing the past, while the mind sighs in relief as it shrugs off the future.
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