Today is the eve of my birthday and I am blessed to be celebrating with a 10 day vacation in the great state of New York. I spent a Fabulous weekend playing in NYC and now I'm heading upstate on the Amtrak Empire service to visit Niagara Falls for the first time. What a great way to spend a day writing!
As promised, this week's blog is on the second lesson on becoming a YaYa Hiké from my new children‘s fantasy adventure novel, Kiva & the Stone Nation. According to Scout, the girl-shaped boulder sent to guide Kiva in her initiation, the 2nd lesson is “You must stay in the moment, paying close attention to what is going on around you. Otherwise, you’ll miss what is right in front of your eyes.”
Of course, being in the moment is much easier said than done. Even though the great gurus & spiritual leaders of all religions & beliefs have been urging humanity from the beginning of time to live in the moment, for it is the only certainty in life, still we continue to either race around trying to reach the next best thing that will supposedly make us happy, or we mope around harboring hurts & resentments that cause us to cling to our past.
When we're out in nature it seems to be much easier to be in the now, unless you're like Kiva & worried about finding your way home. But in my daily life & routine I find it difficult to stay present and instead end up skipping ahead to what's going to happen around the corner.
One trick I employ , that you might like to try, is an app on my smartphone (I use the Mindfullness Bell) that rings randomly throughout the day reminding me to come into the present so I can feel, see, smell, touch & taste the moment. Sticky notes in strategic spots around the house & office work too. Or maybe setting the timer on your microwave or stove to ring at various times throughout the day.
However you go about remembering to be in the present moment, I know you, like me, will begin to experience a richness to life you never knew existed.
As an added tool, below are some wonderful quotes I found that hopefully will help remind you how important being in the moment can be.
Happy Reading everyone!!
James 4:14, NLT Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
James 4:14, KJV Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
“Happiness, not in another place but this place…not for another hour, but this hour.”
― Walt Whitman
“Forever is composed of nows.”
― Emily Dickinson
Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.
― John Lennon
“Be present in all things and thankful for all things.”
― Maya Angelou
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.”
― Henry David Thoreau
Life is available only in the present moment.
― Thich Nhat Hanh
“Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none.”
― Albert Einstein
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.”
― Benjamin Franklin
The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.
― Abraham Lincoln
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.
― Buddha
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