When Lynn was looking for a good slogan, she might have chosen "Enjoy Life" but she chose "Enjoy Now". I am impressed with the power of the difference. Of course, it is good to enjoy life and to be aware of its pleasures, benefits and triumphs. I think of doing that as counting my blessings, appreciating what is good. There certainty is a great deal to appreciate, even when we are in pain or poverty or deep puzzlement.
But enjoying now is a little different. Taking a moment to stop, "freeze" if you will, and just sensing. Listening is good since you can pick up things in all directions. Really taking a look at what you have been doing and where you are reminds you of the miracles you work with all the time. Opening to the sense of smell makes sense. We aren't dogs so we are not that great at picking up scents but still taste and smell bring up sensations, pleasures and information.
As people who are hurt or incapacitated know, just being able to stand, to take a step, to balance upright and walk are engineering miracles. They are worth feeling with muscles and nerves. Getting your hand to your mouth is not all that easy and if you can do it, take some satisfaction that you spent all that time as a baby practicing and mastered that move and still have it.
Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now" helps us penetrate the now more deeply and more appreciatively. Deepak Chopra, too, and many others, emphasize that actually one minute ago is already in the past where it may be partially remembered in a biased and subjective way but it is really gone, as are all the minutes before. One minute from now has not arrived yet. All we really have is now. Consciousness is our tool for knowing and sensing that we are here now, that we are what we are right now. Fears and worries can be shelved and we can just luxuriate in this moment, as it is, that it is. We are knowingly, consciously a part of this moment. We can enjoy now.
