Present For You

Present For You

Lots of things changed when I decided to be happy. One of those things is that now I am always on the lookout for things to make me smile.

I look for beauty wherever I go. I find it in the weirdest places, too. I look for people doing nice things for each other, and see it happen a lot. I look for good news in the media. I look and I look, and so I find and I find.

Since I have relaxed, it is way easier for me to feel moved by my environment in a good way. Since I stopped worrying, I find that it’s easier for me to be present, and that means I have all the time in the world to look for stuff that makes me feel good.

Being present is so amazing. It’s very simple; let your thoughts flow through, be aware of your body, be aware of your surroundings. That’s it.

When I am present, or aware, or mindful, or conscious, life gets very soft, very fluid, very easy. This is not the same thing as being alert, which is a kind of tension, a contraction.

When I am present, or aware, I get soft. I relax into now. The more I do, the now-er I get. When I am present, it’s easier for me to notice stuff, to remember stuff. Because I am present, I have more me around to enjoy my surroundings. Meals are more delicious when I am present, music sounds better, smells are nicer, or ickier!

And that’s how time expands.

When I am present, I have my senses open. I have my mind open, my thoughts meander on through. I am relaxed in my body, I am relaxed in my thoughts, I am relaxed in my spirit, and in my emotions. So I have room to experience a whole lot more.

When I am not present, when I am caught up in worrying, or being pissed about something or someone, when I am preoccupied with what’s going on at work or at home or the jerk who cut me off on the highway, I am pretty much having an out-of-body experience.

What’s that you say? An out-of-body experience? Yeah, we have ‘em a lot. It’s just not very mystical.

When I am focused on my thoughts, I am not present. That’s like driving with the windows all fogged up inside. I can still kind of see, but not very well, and it’s on the inside so the wipers don’t work on it. I will walk into stuff, or trip on things, bonk my toes, crash my car. I won’t really taste my food, or enjoy it. I will suck my coffee down like taking a pill. I will miss the birdsong, I will miss the rainbow, I will miss the person helping the other person. The quality of my life will be diminished for being so wrapped up in my own musings.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I positively love to think about stuff. I try to make sure I make time for it every day, and really miss it when I don’t get to, but it’s not something I do when I am out and about anymore. I treat it as an activity as best I can, rather than as thing, like blood circulation, that I do all the time.

Being present means that I experiences the moments of my life fully. I can savor the nuances. Time ... slows... down. I have time to breathe. I have time to feel. I have time to be.

How have I changed from zooming through my life, numb and unseeing, to living each moment?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2013 all rights reserved 07162013