Going In Deep

I am learning about different layers and depths of understanding of certain concepts. Just when you think you know what “being present” is all about, you have an experience that shows you another facet, another layer of what it might mean. Today, I’d like to re-examine the concept of being present outside of the context of time. Being present is about the now moment and letting go of the past and the future. This implies the linear concept of time. Some of us can do this especially during meditation for example. However, what if something is bugging us now? This is again demonstrated in the practice of meditation when you suddenly notice discomfort in a limb, an itch, or a bug bite, etc. and get annoyed and distracted. From what I have learned and heard from those on the path of enlightenment, the only way to handle that is to notice it and allow it. In other words, breathe in the annoyance, pain, or itch. Don’t fight it and don’t try to ignore it. This takes being present to a deeper place where it is not about time, but about acceptance of what is or allowing of whatever is happening.

The same holds true of patience. I write a lot about patience, because it is something I struggle with. I have this crazy notion that things have to happen according to my schedule and by my rules. Now, I have given up a lot of this in my outer life. It’s only in my internal dialogues that I find myself still struggling with patience. What has helped me is realizing how much I am not accepting what is when I am being impatient. That helps me shift my attention to the true beauty of this now moment that is happening. Take today for example, it is snowing (again) and schools are closed which means that my kids are home and I won’t be able to get a lot of creative work done. To make matters even worse, they are predicting snow into tomorrow which means that they will be home tomorrow too and that will take us into the weekend and I won’t be able to do the things I like to do and I need to do until Monday (if it does not snow then). The next two days are about shoveling, cleaning up after sloppy, muddy messy trails on the floors (or not), taking the dog out and begging and hoping that he does what he needs to do in the snow, etc. In other words, the next two days are about feeling into that itch or bug bite when you really want to feel the bliss of meditation. The next two days are about taking my outer understanding of patience, acceptance, and being present and putting it in high gear. The next two days are about being enlightened while living an ordinary human life, finding peace in the non-peaceful moments, quiet in the noise, etc. Can I allow my plans to wait? Can I just focus on what is happening now regardless of how disrupting it is to my peace? Can I replace judgment and frustration with true acceptance? Stay tuned to find out how I did or didn’t evolve from my deep experience!