We tend to give the present moment short shrift, taking it for granted and not recognizing the amazing potential that it holds for us. Most of us don’t realize that our moments aren’t that great sometimes because of what we choose to do with each moment, or choose not to do. We make our moments or let them slip by, and then all those moments work together to become an hour, a day, a week. . . a life. And one day we’ll be looking back at our lives, either glad of all that we’ve done with our moments, or disappointed in what we’ve failed to do with those moments.
Right now I can choose to do nothing (and rest is sometimes the best thing we can do with a moment!), I can choose to do something simple for someone else or myself, I can choose to begin a project, I can choose to watch a good piece of entertainment–there are many, many things that I can do with my right now. I can encourage someone, teach someone, help someone–or even hurt someone. And while I hope to choose well and create a series of moments that will help me to feel fulfilled and happy with my life, I know that sometimes I’m going to choose unwisely. And when those times come, I hope to accept them with dignity and move on to the next moment, and do with it something fun, unique, and interesting. After all, life’s more fun that way!
The past is gone, and I don’t know what’s coming in the future. It’s
obvious that if I want my life to be whole, to resonate with feeling and
integrity and value and health, there’s only one way I can influence the
future: by owning the present. If I can relate to this moment with
integrity, and then this moment with integrity, and then this moment
with integrity, wakefully, then the sum of that is going to be very different
over time, over mind moments that stretch out into what we call a life,
than a life that is lived mostly on automatic pilot, where we are reacting
and being mechanical and are therefore somewhat numb.
obvious that if I want my life to be whole, to resonate with feeling and
integrity and value and health, there’s only one way I can influence the
future: by owning the present. If I can relate to this moment with
integrity, and then this moment with integrity, and then this moment
with integrity, wakefully, then the sum of that is going to be very different
over time, over mind moments that stretch out into what we call a life,
than a life that is lived mostly on automatic pilot, where we are reacting
and being mechanical and are therefore somewhat numb.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
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