The moment is fresh. The moment is free. To think we are experiencing the moment itself, even mindfully, is to miss something very important… for the most part we are experiencing our thoughts.
I met someone last week who showed me a house I could rent. Such a beautiful house, in such a beautiful place, on such a beautiful day. She is currently in transition moving closer to town, and her house is for sale. In the meantime I could live there. During our visit we got to know each other as she proudly led me across the property she lovingly tended the last 23 years. I couldn’t help but gather during our visit that this was the story we all get to tell at some point of aging and change, as I refrained from helping her up the sloping garden terraces that her feet knew so well.
I watched my mind begin to spin out a story of loss, and less. Maybe a habit. Maybe I’ve learned to think that way. Maybe I have beliefs about life that make me think like this… but when I noticed it was my thoughts and not the truth of the situation there was room for something else. I started to notice that our aging bodies are not a sign of loss, even if that happens, but a sign of a full life, fully lived. And this is true no matter what our lives have contained. In French we say, “I have 39 years,” not “I am 39 years old.” Age is a sign of the richness of the gift of life. Whether we get to experience that completely depends on the stories we tell ourselves. I noticed that this was an example of the freshness, peace, and beauty available in the every moment. That when we recognize that our experience is not of situations themselves, but of habits of thought, we begin to free life from what we make of it, and thereby free ourselves.
Yoga & Meditation helps us to practice this step back from what we think. The Tuesday night classes have been such a joyous pleasure to offer. There are 3 evenings left before the September schedule begins. Do pop in if you are so inspired. If $ is a barrier, just let me know and we can find a way that works for you. These classes are offered in freshness, with freshness, to freshness.
namaste’
Mandee