Happy Luau

Friday, December 14, 2007

Unlived Moments

This is from the book "Arriving at Your Own Door" by Jon Kabat-Zinn:


"Each moment missed is a moment unlived. Each moment missed makes it more likely I will miss the next moment, and live through it cloaked in mindless habits of automaticity rather than living in, out of and through awareness."

8 comments:

bella said...

So let's wake-up!

Olivia said...

Absolutely, bella :)

Kelly said...

Another book for my TO READ list. Today was not a fun day, but at least I was here for it. I lived it.

Rick Hamrick said...

O--this is a great sentiment, and I think it is equally powerful expressed as viewing what we want as our experience: Each moment present is a moment lived fully. Each moment present makes it more likely that I will be present, living in, out of and through awareness, rather than being cloaked in mindless habits of automaticity.

For me, I have found greater reward in celebrating the times I know I am fully present--just as you did your journey through the inner fear as the workers finished your driveway--than bemoaning those times I am not. I forgive myself those times and move on, on to the next opportunity (right now, of course) to be present in my own life.

Just as we are learning the habit of GWCC, we can learn the complementary habit of mindful presence.

Olivia said...

Kelly,

That's all of it...to be here :)

Blessings and peace, O

Olivia said...

Yes, Rick, you are right...that is what counts absolutely. I certainly need to be reminded of that all the time, don't I? I certainly find it easy to forget, but the good news is that with time the new patterns will become habits.

I read a few days ago in Oprah's "O Magazine" that she said that was how she got through the crisis she had with her new school. She breathed, reminded herself that all she had to deal with was that moment, and then the next, and then the next...She credited The Power of Now with teaching her that as well.

The two practices (GWCC and Being Present) really complement each other well.

Blessings and peace,

O

Angela said...

Olivia,

I have read a book by Jon Kabat-Zinn, I can't remember the name of it now and I let a friend borrow it, but it was excellent. He's great at making meditation accessible to all of us.

Olivia said...

He certainly is, Angela. My favorite book of his is "Coming to Your Senses". Loved it, but really didn't know how to live it or to slow down enough to just be, until I read Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now". I have heard good things about all of his books. I think of him as the man who pioneered bringing mindfulness to allopathic medicine.

Blessings this Sacred Sunday,

O