“Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.” – Eckhart Tolle
It’s mulberry season at my house. These elongated fruits drop like rain on my front patio. I step on them and track them everywhere—crimson stains on the floors, the carpets, the bathmats, any place my shoes hit the ground.
For a few weeks each spring we create a ritual, like monks sweeping the abbey. We station the leaf blower near the patio and several times each day we blow the ripened fruit off the stones into the flowerbeds.
At first it feels annoying, a never-ending chore that steals part of the day, time I could spend doing what I love. But if I walk away from this chore, things get messy. Fast!
So I surrender to it.
This year’s ritual began just a few days before Saturday, April 25, 2015, the day an earthquake of great magnitude hit Nepal. The death toll now exceeds 4,000 and continues to rise. Aftershocks create more damage. The people of Nepal need help; yet I live on the other side of the globe.
I think about their pain, their loss, what lies in their wake, the insurmountable rubble, and their unspeakable grief. However, there is little I can do to help except offer my prayers and donate to a reliable charity. I have, and encourage you to also.
Times like these create an emotional paradox and we are caught between the desire to do something and the reality that there is nothing we can do. On 9/11 I sent my children off to school, then built a horse corral while waiting for my husband to return home from his job as an airline pilot. The Oklahoma City bombing occurred in my home state and left 168 people dead. Yet, on that day I stood in a classroom teaching 7th graders how to write a 5-paragraph essay.
Many spiritual teachers remind us to live in the present and not miss out on our lives. Eckhart Tolle’s message is easy to comprehend, yet difficult to live by: Now, live Now. Now is all you have.
I try hard to do this. But I also experience moments, extended or brief, when I feel out of body, when I worry, fret, and expect more from myself than I am truly capable of giving. Like now, today, day three for the Nepalese.
As I move away from my desk and into the morning light, I will step outside to feed the horses. I will walk onto the patio, squish a few mulberries and pick up the leaf blower. I will keep my spring ritual and offer prayers for Nepal, for the aid workers, for all of us. I will continue this diligence until the mulberry fruits have finished their harvest, until my heart feels satisfied that I have done enough.
Note: please consider making a donation. This site offers several choices. Any amount helps!
Sources: www.eckharttolle.com
What a beautiful piece–reminding me to inhabit the moment, to be right where I am and know that it is where I am meant to be, regardless of how it feels. I try to have that same mindset (as your leaf blower anecdote) when I am emptying the dishwasher, doing the laundry, taking out the garbage. These details of our lives, this “drudgery,” grounds us, connects us to the Cosmos and to ourselves, and I have come to appreciate them. Especially considering the pain and tragedy, like Nepal, all around us. Thanks for these thoughts.
As an artist I feel pulled in many directions and then, of course, don’t get anything accomplished. Living a more conscious and present life has become my mantra, a saving grace really. A constant resetting throughout the day, “Back to the Now,” I tell myself. “Now.”
Beautiful Lynda. I have a dear friend in Katmandu. He is a brilliant electrician and is waiting to help. He says it’s all much worse than we know. Yes I feel helpless about so much. So I try to stay in my now and to be there for family and friends. Love you and your thoughts. Your sister.
I can’t even fathom what your friend must be seeing, feeling, living at this moment. Please send him our love and prayers. Yes! Let’s accept where we are and live graciously and generously. Hugs!
Living in the now is so very, very hard. Perhaps we touch the now by ministering to others in small but meaningful ways or by ministering to ourselves with affirmations rather than being tormented by self doubt and the looping thoughts about the day past or the day ahead. The now seems to be in those quiet moments of letting go of self and welcoming the other.
This is beautiful, Mary Margaret. Thank you for this reminder at the end of my busy day. I feel those quiet moments from time to time and relish in them. When we engage in service, in our true work and play (like zipping around COTA at 150 mph) we allow ourselves to let go and simply be.
Reading yalls comments is wonderful. My every day is a blur from when I leave the house to when I get home. Then I get to see my kids and wife for a few minutes, then off to the office to finalize that days paperwork and prepare schedules for the next day’s work. I just work as hard as I can to get to the weekend, then it flies by and I’m right back where I started. The now sounds like a lot better place to live than the weekend I never get to. Thank you Lynda for the grounding reminder and counseling on not only enjoying our now, but also to be thankful for it. I had not heard about the earthquake, but will be sure to pray for everyone involved.
I am just learning how to recognize and live fully in the present. When my children were younger, my husband commuting back and forth flying planes, teaching school, life seemed hectic and, oftentimes, unmanageable. I’m glad you are able to recognize the need for grounding at this busy time in your life….keep striving for that place. It is within our reach!