Being here now....

Amazingly, this blog is being read all over the world. There are so many cities I have never heard of, that I am just amazed. I'm delighted to entertain, or at least provide food for thought, and I appreciate your comments and wish you would write more. So one of you, and I thank you wholeheartedly, wrote a comment to the recent Chick Magnet post, that he thought well of my writing and asked that I explain "the personal growth or the experience that you feel when you write your column." One of my personal goals in life is to live in the moment, to live as consciously as possible, to "be here now," and when I write I am able to do just that. I shut off my head, take some deep yoga breaths, and just let the ideas flow so that I can share them with you.

There's something magical about living a conscious life. You just use your senses, as many of them as possible, doing whatever you do. The goal is to shut off the constant chatter in your head and live in the moment, such simple words for such a difficult task. Remember the quote about life being something that was happening while we are busy making plans? We miss what life brings us when we worry or think or plan or fantasize. Frustration and anxiety and sadness can't exist if we are focusing our energies on the moment, for these things are products of our unfulfilled expectations, our concerns about what we might be missing, our worries, and our self-doubts, and all of these are created by our thinking.

I feel strong and powerful when I write, like I am connecting with something inside of me that is real. When I try to think of what to write, nothing comes. When I breathe and wait, the ideas flow. It's the perfect analogy of life, this experience of writing, that trying to make something happen often fails, but letting life happen and experiencing it fully is a recipe for success. So, just breathe. Shut off your head. Smell the flowers, feel the air on your face, connect with how you feel inside when you see a baby or a sunset. Feel...breathe...be.