Loving Each Moment, No Discrimination

Just as I'm practicing loving this moment with my oldest son, I'm practicing loving all of the moments that happen in my life.

I've been learning that I don't have to be comfortable to love the moment. I definitely don't have to be 'right' or 'smart' or appreciated. The only thing I have to be is present with things as they are.

After a retreat with my beloved teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, on the heels of an intense summer of travel, hospitals, family illness, conflict reconciliation, and retreats, I had a powerful experience of loving the moment. I was walking my sweet, old dog just before I went to bed. I was tired and impatient, wishing she would hurry up and poop. And then I remembered, inspired by the teachings that were filling me, "This is a wonderful moment." As soon as I thought it, I recognized that it was true. The moment that had been annoying, that I was impatient to finish with, was actually perfect. The cicadas (it was August), the stars, the quiet, the slow walking behind my dog as she sniffed and wandered. I fell in love with that moment. It was a beautiful moment, in spite of the complete lack of glamor in waiting for an old dog to poop.

That transformation is always available to me. Sometimes I can sit in an unpleasant moment--talking to one of my kids when they are very angry with me, feeling scared about something out of my control, cleaning the toilet--and feel the same shift into love.

Right now, can you feel it? The beauty of this moment for you, exactly as it is? I can. There's a kind of quiet, although I hear someone rattling around upstairs. It's hot enough that I'm sweating even though it's early morning. The cicadas are LOUD. I'm breathing. It's an imperfect moment and a beautiful one.

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