There are moments in life.
Our lives are made up of an absolutely breathtaking collection of them.
Virtually all of us in every stage of our lives have some sense of how incredible and sensational and incomprehensible our human existence is. To be alive and well and in the world brings a sense of wonder all its own.
Unfortunately, as we grow older we tend to allow our busy schedules to sidetrack us from a basic enjoyment and exhilaration that can enervate us. With a child’s innate wonder, let us take time out of each day to be thankful for our blessings. Further than that, let us celebrate our consciousness, our vitality, and give our inner selves a chance to explore. This simple form of meditation is easily done if we make it a habit.
Memories
Before I was old enough to go to school, we lived in the country with really only one old couple as neighbors for miles around. I remember exploring with my dog, tramping through the woods and the fields while my older brother was in school and my Mother tended to my baby brother.
I remember walking through the black earth of the plowed fields, one after the other, for hours at a time. I would wander down where the silt and sand drifted from the rains to settle in the bottom lands. And I would lie down on my back in the sand in the furrows under the sun, and look at the images in the clouds and wonder. And I would sense the world and its absolute power and glory, and if I closed my eyes, and sometimes even if I didn’t, I could leave my body and float up through the air until I looked down upon myself from a great distance, and see the trees lining the fields, and me in the silt, with my arms outstretched. And I would float with the clouds, and know that I could fly.
A few years later we moved to town. I went to school and learned to be with many other children and not just my brothers and my Sunday School friend. But I remember walking to the church and lying in the grass where it was quiet so I could fly in the clouds. But it wasn’t the same; there were too many noises and people and cars from the road. And soon I couldn’t do it any more. And I remember thinking maybe I was just getting older and it was a little kid’s game and I was just growing out of it.
And while I slowly lost the habit of quieting my mind, I still experienced regular and honestly almost startlingly vivid feelings of being alive. And even before I was old enough to go to school, I remember thinking of how this feeling, this knowledge, this awareness, must somehow be the thing that makes us different from all the other animals.
I have had this feeling all my life. I’m sure we all do. I feel it all the time, this incredible awareness that I’m alive and separate from the world. Sometimes it is strong; usually when I’m alone and thinking. But not always. Sometimes the feeling burbles up to me during a large event surrounded by people. Sometimes it’s more like a gentle and reassuring prod to my consciousness, more like a calming encouragement and affirmation to enjoy the moment I’m in. Isn’t life grand, it’s saying to me; enjoy it.
At its most powerful, it brings me up short. It can take my breath away. It has brought me to my knees, in both an ethereal and very physical way that is maybe better explained as a simultaneous jolt to my senses and my brain of the wonderful and incredible joy of being alive.
I have relearned how to float in the clouds and even to move beyond my house and my love ones and look down on my life and my body and view the whole earth. In such a state one can restructure one’s life and living and sense of being and imagine a new beginning. Now we are talking about dissociation and a release of ego, a return to a beta level. There is only wonderment and a total envelopment of serenity. The key is to return to that place, and allow one’s mind to work simply, rather than always steering it.
It’s a surprisingly easy exercise to get in the habit of doing. Before going to sleep every night, lie quietly with eyes closed. Take a few slow, deep breaths. Begin by lightly tapping on the bones just below your eyes with your fingertips, and notice the relaxation effect it has down through your body. Then, relax your body starting with your feet, and moving up towards your head, concentrating on each body group in turn, lingering over areas that feel stressed.
When you get to your head, and your breathing is relaxed, begin to imagine yourself leaving your body. Relish the feeling of being there, of being you, of being quiet. Don’t worry if you can’t leave your body for a week or so. Just softly encourage yours mind to come to rest, and let it’s worries drift away. Imagine perfect stillness, with whatever imagery that entails. Passively encourage your mind to slowly take over and wander wherever it likes. Become an observer. Relax. Loosen your control on your thoughts. Let go.
Let us enjoy our lives, and take care that our goals and dreams and hard work and our special grindstones don’t keep us from that special grateful feeling of being alive. It can come whenever we want if we allow it. I want to take take time each day to summon the feeling, and continue to develop it as others do their own obsessions and addictions.
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