This moment

for a long time...'staying in the moment' was something that I had to practice....if I was having a conversation someone..my mind was often elsewhere...not necessarily gambling...but on SOMETHING else...all of that..compulsive thinking...business in my head..always working..thinking..about nothing really...nothing important...but....never just BEING..where I was...

it's not usually an effort any more....I can sit...and not keep looking at my watch...not thinking I SHOULD be doing something else...or I WANTED to be doing something else...just...being where I am...with whoever I am with....

but....

it is more than that....

I can be in the moment no matter WHAT I am doing.......even the mundane things..ESPECIALLY the mundane things...

A few months ago I wrote about Being in the Moment.

I talk in that post about one morning, a year or more ago, when I was in the shower..and I was suddenly AWARE…of…how the water felt….the temperature…the feel of it rolling down my skin…how wetness feels….the smell of the soap..sound of the water….I was just THERE….EXPERIENCING…not just DOING….then…I came downstairs to cook and the phenomena continued….the beans that I was washing…with CLEAN water…where were they grown…what process had they gone thru to arrive in my kitchen?

The experience filled me with gratitude for all that I have..I was AWARE of the abundance in my life…but…it was more than that…just BEING…it was CALMING…SOOTHING…

my mind is silent when I do this...the chatter stops.....

there is peace.