I Can Keep This Moment Simple

 

This past weekend we returned from our annual Maine vacation. After having just unpacked from a move, it felt odd to be packing bags again to go away for a week, but I also knew it was much needed after a particularly full year. We had just finished the summer segments of A Mindful Life where the focus was on play, Right Effort, and rest. It was time to practice what we explored. How do we rest? What does it really mean? How do we play and why does it matter? And, what kind of effort are we putting out (or not) -- how can we be curious about what effort is beneficial and when it tips over into "wrong" effort? Standing on the edge of the dock with the pond entirely to myself, facing the mountains of Acadia National Park, I felt free. I knew a large part of me was at rest.

What does it mean to you to be at rest? Not asleep, not altered by ingesting any substances, but simply to be at rest? What does that look and feel like? What are the conditions, inside and out, that make it possible? Many of us have never pondered the question, but in doing so, it leads to all kinds of helpful information, so I invite you to sit with, or journal on, the reflections and see what you find. Feel free to share them with me.

One thing that was clear to many of us in this exploration was that to be at rest, we have to be free of worry in the moment. I also learned, after navigating a stressful year and a half, I had become in the habit of worrying. Those seeds had been strengthened, for many good reasons, but now it is taking some active work to put down that habit energy. Recognizing what was happening, that my mind kept finding things to worry about, has already shifted me out of it. The good news is that we can change our habits.

To state the obvious -- staying in the present moment is the way out of worry. Simply meeting what is here as it is means I am not in my thoughts anticipating the future, imagining scenarios, caught in ideas about what might be. Instead, I am experiencing what is directly happening. But it takes awareness and the active choice to stay here. Being aware of breathing helps. To that end, I have come to like this particular meditation I started offering this year where the combination of words helps me to do just that. Some of you have heard it before in a group, but now you can listen to it anytime. (You can find Simple & Steady on my website and on the Insight Timer app. (Also, thank you for your likes and comments on the Insight Timer. They help it to get shared and seen by those who might not know me). The lines are:

I can go slowly/I can be at ease
I can keep this moment simple/I can be steady
I can be open in this moment/I can meet this moment softly

How often do we add on to what is here with thoughts that are not real! We unnecessarily complicate things. We can, instead, choose to keep it simple and be with what's here, as it is. Not adding anything on. Standing on the dock, breathing in the fresh air, seeing the reflection of the pines in the water, feeling the breeze on my skin, goosebumps before diving in. Just that. Even in difficult moments, simply naming what is actually happening and nothing more, we realize that we can meet the moment. And, we can meet it softly, not with a hard edge. We don't have to add hardness to what is already hard.

I have two invitations for you this week, to reflect on play and rest and why they matter (it's bigger than we think and as adults, we need to be reminded) and to try out this Simple & Steady meditation. Help yourself by practicing staying in the moment with a gentle, open energy. We can be steady, not scattered by thoughts. It just feels better than the alternative and we can get better at it. We can change what our mind does. Thank goodness!

Wishing you a restful, play-full (if you can), or for those of you with heavier things on your plate, a week of simple presence without adding on more to what is here.

🌻
Jean