Wondering what to write for the day after Christmas, I thought of a flow diagram. Depending on how the day went yesterday, different ideas might be relevant now. I pictured a Christmas day full of love and enjoyment of others. I thought of people who spent the day alone or more or less alone. Some undoubtedly were in the company of people they would have enjoyed more in absence than in presence.
It is very easy for the mind, especially an American mind of today, to have wants. It might be wanting the great parts of yesterday to continue. It might be happiness that yesterday is over and wanting its absence to continue. If you didn't get Hot Wheels, you might want some. If you did get Hot Wheels, you might want something different.
There is another line that can be traveled down, the one of just this moment, this minute where a person actually is. The writings of Eckhart Tolle and his videos on YouTube emphasize that actual freedom we all have, every second, to focus on now, just now. It can be quite fun to step into the closet of now.
I think most people find it easiest to dip into now, to take shelter in the now, to taste what is now if they relax as many muscles as possible. Sometimes, just as I focus on the current moment, I catch myself in an exhale. Being aware of that exhalation points out to me that I am alive. I won't always be but just now I am alive. I might as well participate in that fact, that temporary state of being right now.
There is much research and thought about the human tendency to try to rather quickly sort all incoming perception into the signs of good and the signs of not good, dangers, needs, plans, etc. What needs doing? But unless the cake needs to be removed from the oven or some other immediate need, it can be good for mind, body and relations with others, to notice what is happening inside myself and around me, right now. Notice and notice some more.
