This Magic Moment by Anne Nayer, msw, Coach Paradise

Now

I got up early, meditated, made a fruit and kale smoothie and smiled about the day ahead: sailing at the Ritz, lunch with my daughter, a massage with my favorite masseuse and, as if that weren’t enough, winding down at the Nirvana Temple’s evening meditation to the sound of the surf.

Pinch me please!  People pay for days like this and long for a life that, my sister says, is fit for the rich and famous.  I laugh, because I do enjoy that life and I’m not rich and I’m not famous (yet).

As I headed to the Ritz, I confess that, in addition to smiling at my good fortune, I was also feeling guilty. I kept thinking I should really be working on my book and focused on making money. Voices in my head said, “What gives you the right to la-di-dah around? Get real!”  I  wondered if joining the morning rush hour would make me a better person and assuage my guilt.

As if on cue, I started to worry about my future. I heard Suzie Orman (and my mother) scolding me for foolish financial decisions.  I made a to-do list for my books and my courses and, was haunted by unfinished paperwork and then…

I realized that I had totally left the present moment. I had moved from the land of my most amazing life to a run down project and a none to pleasant future that was bringing me down.

Tuning back into the lush tropical landscape, I saw what that I was polluting and diluting the rich, shimmering present moment with negative thoughts about the past or the future. I was my own party pooper and I had a choice.

Even if I call Suzie Orman and hand out my resume tomorrow, I get to choose whether to be present to my life right now. I can meet it head on or live in the imagined past and future. There’s a big difference.

Vigilance is required.  I’m constantly going astray and bringing myself back to the here and now. My chattering monkey mind lures me elsewhere and, otherwise occupied, I keep missing my life in its full on HD intensity.

I decided that starting right then and there(once again) I’m was going to choose the present, even if I had to do it over and over and over again.

We’re taught at an early age to censor our desires, not to toot our own horns, to buckle down, work hard and keep the peace. We love the idea of unbridled joy but have a love/hate relationship with people who are fully present to each moment.

It’s much more fun to do things fully and forget yourself. When you realize you’re in the past or future in your mind, just come on back. Bring yourself back with your breath and scan your body. Get curious about all that’s going on in the here and now. Savor each moment.  Expand its edges.

The only thing preventing us from fully enjoying our lives is our monkey mind selves (our egos).  The antidote is cultivating practices that encourage ‘presence’, like playing music, meditating, sailing, yoga, sunsets and being ‘mindful’ of what we are thinking.  When we pay attention to our thoughts we can intervene when they head south and return ‘home’ to now.

Thinking you should be somewhere else, with someone else and be someone else, is an automatic joy squashier. It leads to a life of going through the motions. You cheat yourself out of the charge of direct touch, full immersion living.

The late, great rock musician and song writer, Warren Zevon had the right idea when, shortly before leaving this earth he told his fans to “Enjoy every sandwich.”

I’m almost at the Ritz.  The rains have turned the foliage lush and neon green.  I inhale deeply and find myself back in this present moment of yet another amazing day. I roll down the window and tell the guard, “Good morning. Sailing school,” and turn into the manicured grounds of the luxury hotel property as if I belonged there as if I owned the world.