My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
Being present is about living where I’m at in my own shoes. I cannot live in the past or future. Being present is being awake. Acceptance. I’ve heard it said, “Reality is only experienced when we live life in the present.” May I live today in the present!
Retired. Having fun with photography. Journal daily. Meditate daily. Learning haiku/poetry. Have a love for fountain pens.
4 Comments
Cedric Canard
Well, technically, our brains cannot experience reality. Just think about the colour spectrum we don’t see or the wavelengths we don’t hear just to begin with. I suspect our brains filter out more than they let pass through. What we experience is merely a thin shadow (to keep within the theme of this post) of reality. However, you are quite right, our brains, like our shoes for that matter, only exist in the present. Thankfully, it’s a state of being we don’t need to wish for 😉
A delightful photo by the way, Monte.
Monte Stevens
Yes, I do not want to drive on autopilot, or not be able to read a paragraph without wandering in my thoughts, missing all the paragraph had to offer. Same is true when walking in nature, where my mind is having a conversation in the future. Does, that make sense?
Cedric Canard
I totally understand, what I was suggesting is that wandering in one’s thoughts, rehashing the past, planning the future, these activities are all happening now in the present. And is this mind activity not in our nature? Does the disturbance come from the activity of thoughts or from the desire to pay attention to a paragraph in a book? The very activity of trying to stop thought in order to become passive and attentive fills us with activity. However, simply being aware of what is going on (be it thought or book or walking), accepting it without judgement or attachment, that, I would suggest, is what makes us as present as our nature allows 🙂
Monte Stevens
I like how you articulate and is along the line of authors I read. I’m aware of the letting go of thoughts and their ever presence. I think the Buddhist talk about emptiness while the Greeks use the word of kenonsis. I like how you suggest the acceptance making us present. You again teach me.