Appreciation

How often do you fully appreciate your experience in the moment? Does your life simply flow from one scheduled event to another? Can you recall when you last breathed deeply and fully experienced the moment without a sense of having to move on to the next?

So much is lost with loss of being fully in the present. While it is advantageous to plan and be organized, it is also advantageous to experience the present as it is. How else can I move progressively from one point to another?

This part of my practice, this blog, is part of my practice of appreciation. By having a time every day when I sit quietly and look calmly at my present, I am able to explore my thoughts about my life and my environment. Writing an essay for the blog often raises my consciousness of issues in my own present. It often spurs me in another direction in some area of thought or action.

Being lost usually starts with not knowing where you are. Stop. Breathe. Open your eyes. Feel your emotions. Appreciate the now. This is the GPS of intellectual and emotional travel.