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When we're told to be in present moment awareness, how fully are we supposed to embrace this idea? Don't we have to check in with our opinions, our thoughts, our feelings? Don't we have to decide, moment by moment, what is correct for us, what is appropriate, what is the "right" thing to do?
Let's say you're walking down the sidewalk with your daughter. She's a little girl. You're passing someone with a dog. Your girl is between you and the person with the dog. You're connecting with the person, smiling, saying hello. You hear the dog growl. What do you do?
FIRST THING: you get between your daughter and the dog. Immediately, without thought. Without pause. Without having to decide or figure out what's best. All other thoughts (and there could be many) are after the fact: What an ass he is. That's a bad dog. I'm a bad parent. I should have seen that coming. He's a bad dog owner, hasn't trained his dog properly. The world's an unsafe place. Etc.
None of these thoughts are helpful in any way. What was helpful was the fact that you were present, in present moment reality so fully that you acted perfectly when you had to act.
This is what we seek--to be fully present in nature, in the world. The seeds of all possible futures are here in the present moment. By paying our full attention to the present moment we will know what to do and when to do it. So rather than to decide after the fact who's at fault, we step out of the speculation that would require and get present with our daughter, and we talk to her about growling dogs and fear and the beautiful flowers and the way the sun is glinting off the leaves quaking just there in front of us.
Today I will remember they call it 'the present' because it is.
 Dog and Sidewalk, Grand St., Soho
All material copyright Jeff Kober
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