This is the day – embrace it!

I like walking.

This love of walking began in childhood when, on family holidays, my parents and siblings and I would trek around the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. We explored the Giant’s Staircase and walked the miles to the Ruined Castle and back. Those walks were teaching me, although I didn’t know it at the time, to be in the present moment, to embrace the present, and to observe what was happening all around me.

Embrace the present to make memories

I have some very sharp clear memories of those walks – of slipping on the scree on the side of the mountain, and of sitting atop a pinnacle barely a meter wide and looking out over the Megalong Valley towards Mount Solitary.

Then there’s the walk through Parachilna Gorge in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia, with my not-yet fiancé, our hands swollen from the heat and yet needing to have fingers interlaced as we walked the last few kilometres back to the bus. Or walking to school at the top of the street –  a short walk but such a milestone for a child when you are deemed old enough to do the walk on your own and cross the busy road in front of the school.

These memories are strong because walking is a process that keeps you grounded (pun intended). Walking allows the present moment to intrude on my thoughts, as a bird skitters in the bushes or eyes me warily from the roadside, and as the dogs I may be walking decide to stop suddenly or pull ahead.

Walking is an in-the-moment activity, a chance to truly embrace the present.

Embrace the present for a now wow

Most of the time now, I walk around my neighbourhood. Not long ago, as I took a familiar route, I decided to add another dimension to my walking. I am a tactile person, I love to feel textures. This day, I allowed my fingertips to touch the foliage in the gardens as I walked. I reached out my hand and brushed through lavenders and rosemary, releasing their beautiful perfume. I reached up and tugged gently at the overhanging willows and acacias. I skimmed my palm across the top of diosma and geranium.

Each plant had a different feel. Each plant sent different messages to my brain. Some bushes were spiky, others smooth, while others almost silky. Some released perfume and others had none. Not only did I notice the feel of these various plants, I noted their colours, the varying shades of green and the shapes of the leaves, as well as the types of flowers in bloom, in bud or dying on the bush.

Embrace the present in your own skin

I only have today. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is yet to be. If today is the only time I have, if this moment is the one with which I am gifted, I am learning that I must embrace the present, to live in it and out of it. While it is great to reflect on the past to be able to learn from it (which I do), while it necessary to plan for the future and develop strategies to reach my goals, the ultimate reality is right now, in this present moment.

I have decided that I do not want to waste this moment. I have decided that I want to live fully in this moment. And to do so requires that I be fully present to what I am actually doing (and in this very moment, that means watching my fingers as I type and feeling the pressure of my fingertips against the keys of my computer).

Being present to the moment, embracing the present, is a conscious choice. it is intentional. It is a decision I get to make, we get to make, every moment of the day.

What embracing the present does is to challenge me to like being in my own skin – I cannot escape myself when I am embracing the present.

Being intentionally present allows me to be conscious of my heart beating, of the slight tinnitus from which I have always suffered, of the state of my nails, and of how my shoulders are feeling as they hunch over the keyboard. At the moment, it is silent, the dogs are sleeping and there is very little background noise, just the occasional thump of water through the pipes or the distant hum of a passing car or a plane flying overhead – and then the musical notification of another email hitting my inbox!

Find your ways to embrace the present

Each of us lives individually unique lives. No two people experience a given moment, even a shared moment, in the same way, or develop the same memories of that event. Each of us sees the world through our particular eyes. And it is so important that we value what we see, what we experience, what we feel.

Our individual experiences of life are our own. They challenge us, they shape us, sometimes they bring pain, and often they bring us joy. Some moments we want to prolong, others we wish would be over before they begin.

But all we have is the present.

How do you embrace the present in the individual circumstances of your life? In its busyness? In its moments of quiet? I would love to hear what you do to embrace the present moments of your life. Make a comment below and share your present with the rest of us.

 

Invite stillness to embrace the present

I went out for a drive on the first fine warm day after a week of rain and cold. Spring in Melbourne is so changeable and winter this year had seemed particularly long. I put the top down on the car and allowed the sun to warm my skin – one method I often use to embrace the present and feel more in touch with what is happening around me.

I turned right at the bottom of the road, rather than left as I usually did, to explore a part of the bay area that I hadn’t previously seen. After driving about 15 kilometres to Flinders I found a parking area that looked out towards Phillip Island. I knew I needed to stop and just, well, stop, but I found it hard to do so.

I’d had a busy morning – organised a new learning plan, took part in a weekly podcast, had a one-to-one discovery session with a potential client – and I’d come out on this drive to be refreshed. But I found stopping hard. I wanted to embrace the present so, even though I  was tempted to get my phone out and check emails, or play Words with Friends, or look at Facebook, I resisted reaching into my bag. I wanted to get out of the car and go for a walk, but I knew I needed to just stop, to be still. It was very hard to just be still.

But…I did. I stopped. Just sat in the car and looked out at the ocean. I tried to think, to put words to what I was seeing, to what I was feeling, but I realised that this was just another way of doing something, so I stopped. I just stopped, I was still, and embraced the present moment.

Be still, and see what is happening…in the present.

And, interestingly, it was not long – only minutes – before I started noticing things that I hadn’t previously seen. The couple in the car next to me were having a conversation and I could catch snippets of words through the open windows. I wanted them to be quiet and as I looked across to their car I noticed a blue wren hopping on the ground between our two cars. A blue wren. Brilliant blue, long tail flashing in the sun. I was delighted!

I watched as the wren skittered to the bushes that lined the car park and I tried to get a photo, but he was too fast. So, I just sat, and watched. The wren disappeared into the bushes and a seagull wheeled in and perched on the fence – no doubt hoping that someone in the cars ranged along the fence would have some hot chips or a piece of bread to share.

Then it happened. The blue wren flew out of the bushes and hopped along the road right next to my car. He bobbed his head, hunting the ants that scurried across the pebbled tarmac. His head and back flashed blue in the sun. What a gift – in the present – which i would have missed if I had not invited stillness into my life.

For the next 15 or 20 minutes I just looked. And I noticed the white caps on the waves far out on the bay. I watched the flock of birds wheeling and dipping against the pale blue spring sky. I saw the woman who stopped only long enough to take three snapshots of the view and the minibus of tourists who were given a lesson about the history of the bay.

Embrace the present in a new way.

And then, I felt it was okay to move on to the next beach. Here I walked the beach, eyes closed, listening and feeling without sight to guide me, allowing this present to embrace me. Over the gentle shush of the waves I heard the plip of tiny foam bubbles breaking as each small wave spilled onto the shore. I felt the wind seem to blow right through me, as if through my soul, washing away what I no longer needed. I felt the sand slope beneath my feet, and was aware of the different angels at which I placed my feet. I experienced how easy it was to lose my balance without sight to guide and steady me.

It’s not easy to find the time to be still in our busy days. But this afternoon made me realise that if I am to embrace the present I must actively and intentionally invite stillness into my life. It was not easy to stop, to be still. I resisted the pull of stillness. But I knew I had to find some way of inviting it into my life, because without those moments of stillness I would be unable to truly embrace the present, as my head would be well into the future, planning the next thing to do.

Embrace the present, intentionally.

What do you do, what can you do, to invite stillness into your life?

Not everyone can take a walk on the beach but I’m sure that each of us can find ways to invite even a moment of stillness into our lives so that we become more aware of what is happening right at this present moment.  I am convinced that without intentionality towards stillness – of body, of mind, of soul – that we can never truly embrace the present and enjoy what is taking place in our lives at this very time.

I’d love to hear what you do to embrace the present, to be still in the moment, to intentionally invite stillness into your life. Let me know what you do in the comments below.

 

If you’d like to know more about embracing the present, just leave your details and we can share a free 30-minute Discovery Session together and explore ways that a Backstory Program could help you live your most fulfilled life.

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