Link

Here is a link to Barbara Kingsolver’s book entitled High Tide in Tucson. There is a short story in this book of short stories/essays where Barbara takes her daughter to the zoo. She, Barbara, is ready to help her daughter “learn” about the animals, but here daughter has different ideas. She wishes to swing on the bars…for hours! I think of this often as I try to just “be” with my own children. I found the same passage in Eckhart Tolle’s book to be fascinating:)

Good to meet you!
Susan

pat k. – in the most recent seminar (#4) there’s a segment when eckhart calls pets “the guardians of being.” which is beautiful, of course. (at the time, my husband and I were sitting on the sofa listening to the audio, and my cat was laying on his back in between us with his paws straight up in the air. (my husband rolled his eyes at eckhart’s statement and we both just cracked up.) anyway, you’re right about the multi-tasking! it’d be sort of funny to imagine someone reading that book with the tv on and while making dinner and talking on the phone or something.

monica – what you wrote is exactly what happens with emotions. at my retreats, the very first hour is spent in silence. all the women have come fluttering in from various places in the country (some come from other parts of the world!) and the first thing i have them do is wander outside along the hiking trails and spend one hour in total silence. no reading or writing. many of them report back that the first thing they experience is profound emotion and sadness. when that happens, if you can just resist the urge to judge it, then usually it just plays its course and moves through. and yes, you are often taken to a deeper space once it gets out of the way. emotion is just energy really. have a great trip!

lisa – wow! that’s lots of stuff. i think it comes down to your awareness. if your mind is ruminating while you’re walking in the woods – and then you get mad at yourself for ruminating because you’re not being present, you’re just adding one more thing onto the mix. but if you can just observe the ruminating, then that’s one step closer to being in the present. and yea, i think you can go to the woods to think. i have better hikes when i’m fully in the woods just taking it all in. And as for “being in the now” – when you’re REALLY in it and experiencing it, there’s just not an allowance of multitasking. It’s not that multi-tasking is WRONG. It’s just that when you’re fully experiencing this moment, you can’t be also worrying about this next thing or that other thing. YOu’re just fully enveloped. And it’s not mental in the least. It’s full body living here now absorbing the moment. When I do that, I simply don’t have the multi-tasking gene anymore or something. If you like to multi-task, then go for it! No one is saying it’s WRONG – it’s more about missing what’s right in front of you to be experienced. Yea, maybe that mom had agreed in advance to combine play and math. Maybe not. It doesn’t matter. What I saw was a moment that was filled with mental activity – and the energy of it felt frantic. When Eckhart speaks, he calls it “sign posts.” His words are pointing in a direction – but they can’t take you there. you have to go there. I try to let these teachings wash over me, and not figure them out so hard. It is true, though (is it not?) that most people haven’t got a clue what NOW is?

deb – i would even challenge you to boil your water on the stove and avoid the microwave altogether! (Is it me? or does microwaved water not do tea very well?) and you know, i’ve been through so many levels with being a musician and being self-employed – and i’ve gotten scared and had very little money and lots of money – and it still all comes down to presence and taking action with presence. all of that stuff is just the waves on the water. you’re way deeper than that!

thanks mary! yes, the last post mentions my 2 year anniversary of blogging. I was going to write a lot more about blogging – but then, it just seemed like there’s plenty of other information out there! i love the improv idea. performing – when it’s done right – is that very same thing. while i was listening to eckhart talk on the 4th seminar – i was thinking about how performing always works when you’re in the present moment. i get stage fright less and less now because i just know that it’s always about just being there. i’ve thought about taking improv classes just to experience what you describe.

There are times when I have to play the mom role (please empty the dishwasher, feed the cats, clean up the living room, cook dinner, do homework, go shopping, etc).

Figuring how to integrate both of these things into a the relationship is difficult. I think it’s important to acknowledge that there are times when it is appropriate for a mom to ask a kid what 3+8 equals.

Maybe on the slide isn’t that time – maybe that mom is always like that and not living in the now. Or maybe that mom asked the kids “we have to do 10 math problems today – would you guys like to do this sitting here or would you like to go to the play ground and do 1 problem for each slide down the slide?”.

Which leads to the multitasking question – is it bad to combine play time and work (being and doing)? Is it even possible? By doing the math is the mother even capable of just being during the rest of the time?

Should we do just one thing and focus on that one thing to completion before doing something else so we should always pick the “answer the 10 math questions then you can go to the playground”?

I have no answers – I’m working through my own life trying to work out what might work. In monday’s broadcast Eckhart said something about how walking in the forest is not the time to plan for the future in response to Oprah saying that she might go to the forest to do some planning.

Which implied to me he thinks multitasking (and the mom doing math on the playground in any circumstances) are not preferred ways of being – that focusing on a single thing at time is the way to go to stay in the now.

Any thoughts on this Christine? I’d love to hear them.

I have to admit that sometimes I avoid the present because to sit still and be in the moment might release a wellspring of emotion that I’m not sure I can handle. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. But maybe that’s emotion’s way of knocking on the door to say “let me out.” Then once it’s out you’ve got the clear, cool water of the present in which you can submerge and refresh yourself.

Anyway, thanks for giving me at least a moment’s pause and reflection with your beautiful post.

Being in the present moment is something we can learn from our pets, because animals live FULLY in the present moment. They don’t need to “forgive” because they don’t hold grudges, they don’t “worry” because that has to do with the future, the know what unconditional love is and practice it always, they experience total focus (ever see a cat watching a bird?), allowance (imagine putting up with us humans!), and acceptance, all because they live in the now. Observe and learn from them.