"When you're present, the world is truly alive."

"When you're present, the world is truly alive."

How much time I spend lingering in the past, and either agonizing or daydreaming about the future. To be truly present in each moment, to grasp the very moment for itself, in its entirety, without regard for what has happened already or the speculation - either positive or negative - of what may happen. This is rare. Animals innately have this gift, as they do not utilize logic in the same manner as humans. They are smart, and remember, and may even seem clever or cunning, but the chain of consequence is not developed in a logical progression. Humans contemplate their circumstances, and plan their actions accordingly (depending on the human, of course.) Animal simply exist.

As a chronic worrier, I struggle to let go of the "what if's" that haunt me. The meditation practices that bring focus to the "here and now" are so challenging for my scattered mind collecting all the data and playing out all the treads of possibility.

I remember a college writing assignment to write about your present moment, and I wrote about having stale Top Ramen for all three meals that day, as that was all I had left to eat. It wasn't poetic or beautiful, and even a bit whiny, but that was my current experience. While unpacking the boxes at the new apartment, I've been uncovering old writing, published poems, and even one that I won a $50 Honorable Mention (a much greater-seeming fortune when four measly quarters bought clean, if not DRY, laundry!)

I wrote a collection of poems about a diorama, and suddenly after nearly 20 years, the words still invoked the memories of tawny fur and frozen expressions of the animals in the display cases. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but thousands of words may still be needed regardless.

A single moment colored with my thoughts, emotions, feelings, expressions. Digging into the detailed richness of my human experience flowing through my pen.