Thich Nhat Hanh a contemporary Buddhist monk, writes with great elegance of the joy to be found in bringing our awareness to the present moment.  He encourages us to be so completely immersed in the task at hand that it becomes to us the most important thing in our life.

In The Miracle of Mindfulness, he writes, “While washing the dishes, you might be thinking about the tea afterwards, and so try to get them out of the way as quickly as possible in order to sit and drink tea.  But that means that you are incapable of living during the time you are washing the dishes.  When you are washing the dishes, washing the dishes must be the most important thing in your life.  Just as when you’re drinking tea, drinking tea must be the most important thing in your life.”

When I look into the lives of spiritually awake people across spiritual traditions, there seems to be a common thread.  Each lived or lives deliberately with an appreciation of the uniqueness of each moment, each circumstance, each person.

Each of us can let each moment become a moment of deliberate, conscious living.  Each of us can learn, with practice, patience, and perseverance, to greet the Presence of God, of Consciousness, of Spirit, of Shakti and welcome that formless Presence regardless of the form.  Each of us can let each moment’s experience become a way of seeking out God’s Presence and increasing our love for that Presence.

Living in such a way, we become the artists of our own life.  We can sculpt, paint, and dance our way through each day.  We need only to pick up and use the tools at our disposal and one of these tools is the practice of the present moment.

Of course, we cannot shape each circumstances of our lives, though there is debate about that.  We can, however, completely shape our response to Life circumstances and embrace the Presence in each unfolding moment.  With Grace, we step aside from the thoughts that lead us to believe Grace is somewhere other than the present.

This may seem obvious, ridiculous or perhaps overwhelming.  Yet, in practice it becomes sublime and poetic.  It may be that searching out the sacred in each day, looking for holiness in a single moment over the course of a single day feels more attainable than the seemingly monumental task of recognizing the sacredness of each and every moment.

However you approach such a practice, the practice is one of slowing down for the moment, by doing one thing at a time.  A neighbor of mine once summed this up for me with beautiful simplicity, “when walking, walk.”

The integration of centering practices is a meaningful way of enriching your experience of the Presence in the present.  If you are interested in deepening your experience of centering practice, consider investing in my new 21 day audio program - Reclaim Your Life and Learn to Live in Balance.

“Under all circumstances, always, everywhere, and in all respects,

you must look upon everything as Brahman, and Brahman alone.”

~ Crest Jewel of Discrimination

Brother Lawrence mastered this teaching as he made it his practice to behave in each moment “as if there were no one but Thee and Me.”  When I offer the present moment my one pointed attention and greet the present moment with ultimate abandon, free from the gnarled cage of expectation, that is the moment I find God being God in myriad shapes and forms.  That is the moment I feel the peace of the Presence in the present.

Greeting the Beloved in the present moment with respect is a doorway through which we can all “practice the Presence of God.”  Within this sublime practice of mindfulness, any one of us can begin living as if there were none but “Thee and Me” in the world.  With this kind of awareness, we cannot help but welcome God in His all-pervasive form with myriad faces and varied costumes.  Each moment weaves the sacred tapestry of holiness.

Yet, I sure tend to get distracted with a single thread of thought, activity, or sense pleasure and mistake the thought, activity or sense pleasure for the “Real Truth” rather than our experience of Being as Truth.  Similarly, I can get carried away by my ideas about God and Truth rather than absorbing myself in the experience of Being as a portal to the Truth, a portal to LOVE.

Dostoevsky, in his book The Brothers Karamazov, knew the blessing of beckoning love in the present moment.  He wrote, “Love all God’s creation, both the whole and every grain of sand.  Love every leaf, every ray of light.  Love the animals, love the plants, love each separate thing.  If thou love each thing thou wilt perceive the mystery of God in all.”

These days, we have access to great teachers on practicing presence.  Among my favorites is Thich Nhat Hanh.

If you are interested in playing more in this field of mindfulness, consider joining me in Provence.  Or if you want to give the gift of a lifetime to your mother, wife, sister or friend, invite her to join me.