A Year of Living Present

 Be Present With Me

God does have a sense of humor I'm convinced. There have been many times in my life I lift my chin to the sky and give Him a little wink. "HaHa. You knew what you were doing." He's wise like that, and me, sometimes not so sharp.

Like my last name. Present. For years I joked, "...and accounted for." But then mindfulness became a thing and I almost had to say, "uh oh". What excuse do I have?

Present.

I'm going to stay away from the "being mindful" aspect. Let's keep this simple. A 12-month focus with a personal practice of being in the moment, engaged, committed, connected, immersed. There are many words that describe "it", but doing "it" can be another story. 

I find it's purely a habit. We all know there are a gazillion distractions in our day and age: technology, multi-tasking, a fast-paced life, not enough hours in the day - another list that goes on and on. But the habits we navigate each moment with are what is important. It's the "how's" because of the "why's".

Why.

This is the best list to start with. "Why" do I want to be Present? What are my virtues? What is truly the very most important thing to me in this big picture of life? When there is calamity, pain, or strife, what are my grounding roots that I will adhere to during thick and thin? What will I look back and regret, and what will I cherish? Here's an example:

I'm at my kitchen table on my laptop pecking away at an email to send to my team at work about keeping their space clean. My son walks in and is asking me how my day has been. I don't immediately answer, but keep pecking at the keyboard, and he proceeds to tell me about his day. STOP.

What am I missing here? What is of utmost importance to me? Keeping a relationship with my 18-year-old is absolute tops. Here I have a golden moment, probably a ten-minute opportunity to connect, engage, look him in the eyes, hear his heart, to be Present with him. When the job is done and gone and I'm reflecting on a life well-lived, will it be the email that was important or an amazing connection with my son?

How. 

My Present goal for January is when someone is talking to me, stop what I'm doing, clasp my hands together, look at them, and listen. A full sensory "listen". No multi-tasking. Surround myself with the moment, feel the space, hear the individual that is with me, right here, right now, wanting to connect with me in person. Relationships are extremely important to me and if I can have a one on one conversation and not a text or email - especially with a child who is in their last chapters of being with us, wow, what a gift in today's world!

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."

~Mahatma Gandhi