Being Present to the Moment - 19 September
What they took for inattentiveness was a miracle of concentration.
—– Toni Morrison
Have you ever watched a cat stalk a bird? Every muscle, every tendon, every heartbeat is focused on the prey.
Have you ever watched a cat stretch after a nap? Every muscle, every tendon, every heartbeat is involved in the stretch.
Sometimes when we are totally concentrating on a task we may seem rude and inattentive. Yet we are wholly present. We are present to our moment of focus.
These moments of complete focus are magical moments and frequently are times when we experience the oneness with our Higher Power and the process of the universe. We are totally within ourselves, and we are totally beyond ourselves.
I REJOICE for the moments of total oneness. I am truly myself when within and beyond myself.
Directly from Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much -
by Anne Wilson Schaef
(except for Rocky)
September 19th, 2006 at 9:12 am
It seems like those moments are so few and so far between. We are so busy “multi tasking” that real concentration becomes almost impossible. bonnie
September 19th, 2006 at 11:32 am
That kind of focus comes deep from within and will happen at the strangest times. If I am open to it & allow it to happen in it’s own natural stream of energy it is my favorite place to be.
September 19th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
A good friend of mine (who hails from Western PA — hardly anybody who lives in Arizona is actually from Arizona; I always say that there are more people from Chicago living in Phoenix, than there are people from Chicago living in Chicago) has the same problem. She’s always trying to do 20 things at the same time (what I refer to as “juggling chainsaws”), and is always frustrated that she never gets anything done. (I got her Time Management for Dummies some years back, but I doubt she’s taken the time to actually read it.)
Both her son (who is now grown with a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Southern California — how time flies) and I have told her that when she dies, we’re going to engrave this on her tombstone:
She Finally Ran Out of Things To Do
As for me, I make an honest effort to take as much time to stop and smell the flowers as I can. It beats working.
Kirk (with a dog who takes after her daddy — figuratively and literally)
September 20th, 2006 at 11:31 am
Cats are the ultimate ZEN MASTERS!
September 21st, 2006 at 4:21 am
Neat post, I know exactly what you’re saying
September 23rd, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Hey, next on my reading list: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.
September 27th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
Oh I’m loving this post!
September 28th, 2006 at 11:51 pm
“Sometimes when we are totally concentrating on a task we may seem rude and inattentive. Yet we are wholly present. We are present to our moment of focus.”
That was so perfectly stated. My job requires total concentration on the task at hand. Distractions or people that are not giving to the cause are detrimental to everyone involved.
Still, when I am WORKING and on a call - there are some people that will prattle on about mundane things (like televison shows or celebrity gossip) when - quite literally - lives are at risk.
I can’t even begin to understand their reasoning — I mean. I can be in the middle of an interesting conversation (one not about any of the celebrities or their newly aquired children) and duty calls… all conversation is put on hold and can be picked up after the call is complete.
October 24th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
here’s another test comment…