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Today's
Meditation:
How easy it
is to carry the baggage of the past! And how easy it
is to get caught up in thinking about and/or worrying
about what's going to happen this afternoon, or tomorrow,
or next week. Alan makes a very good point here--
one
of the reasons for which children can seem to be happier
than adults is because most of them don't spend lots of
time thinking about what happened yesterday or last
week. They're able to be present in the moment,
which is where our lives truly lie, isn't it?
It is
true that statements like this tend to romanticize
childhood. In my childhood, the alcoholism of a
family member took away many pleasant present moments, and
did cause me to worry about the future and think about the
past. Many children face abuse, abandonment,
addiction, and many other problems that can rob them of
those "carefree days" of childhood.
But
this fact doesn't take away from the fact that childhood
is a time of wonder, a time when figuring out what to do
right this moment is our greatest concern. And all
the possibilities can seem magical and wonderful, so
sometimes it's hard to choose. It's unfortunate that
so many children these days are being taught not to use
their imagination because of their addictions to screens--
one of the greatest gifts we can give them in
life is the ability to think for themselves and to go out
and play rather than having their eyes glued to a screen
for the next two hours.
And
what's good for the child is good for the adult-- it would
do us a world of good to stop looking at our screens and
go outside and play something fun, or even just go for a
walk. We would be much happier if we stopped
dwelling on what happened yesterday and focused on right
now; if we stopped worrying about what's going to happen
tomorrow and focused on where we are at this moment.
Let's look at the world with "clear-eyed vision"
and actually see the wonderful and amazing things all
around us-- let's let the children be our teachers of how
to enjoy the present moment in our present location, and
let's make our lives all that much richer for it.
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