Infinity in
every moment
Sometimes, we awaken to
panic and despair when we realize how many of our years had
managed to slip away virtually unnoticed. We may blame our
hectic lifestyles and the demands of work and family. The
truth is, if we don't dwell in every tiny moment that makes
up our reality, our whole lives will have passed
uneventfully. Every moment in our lives is immensely sacred
in its own right. To awaken to the present moment is to
experience the sanctity of being alive.
We may consider getting married and giving birth to a child
as exceptionally significant moments in our lives. In fact,
they are. However, if we reduce our lives to a handful of
memorable moments, the countless other moments that make up
our existence will have seemed pointless. If birthdays,
anniversaries, and other milestones in our lives can have so
much meaning for us, then why not the present moment, the
moment in which we are truly alive? This is not to say that
we should not celebrate our birthdays and anniversaries--
just that every moment has an intrinsic value in itself.
Attention is what gives meaning and significance to
everything. By attending to every moment in our lives with
great care and diligence, we render it as special as our
wedding or birthday.
Attending to every moment means attuning our awareness to
the tiny yet infinite moment that is now. We all know that
infinity is made up of an infinite number of smaller
moments. A lifetime is also made up of an infinite number of
smaller moments. So is a single second! If we are able to
dwell in the infinitesimally small moments that make up
every second in our lives, then we can experience infinity
itself. Time would seem to stand still. This is why we often
experience the quality of timelessness during meditation.
Mindfulness is the art of arriving at the present moment. By
inhabiting our bodies, accepting all things that are
happening both inside and outside of us without resisting,
without scheming for an escape, we arrive at the present
moment. When we can say to ourselves (and really mean it!),
"This is it, I am here," there is nowhere else to go.
Mindfulness is the quality of being here now, as opposed to
wishing to be somewhere else. Being here now means dwelling
in the present moment and actively participating in the
unfolding of our own reality..
Mindfulness is often described as "moment-to-moment"
awareness. "Moment-to-moment" implies that there are
boundaries dividing our moments. Ideally, we do not want to
experience time as a succession of moments ticking away like
a clock. What we want to experience is this moment and to
dwell in the eternal stillness that is this moment. But we
all know that this is humanly impossible. The boundaries are
really lapses in mindfulness. The key is not to fret over
these lapses, but to inhabit our bodies and attune our
awareness ot the here and now.
