My husband Dan says things sometimes- as I am rushing out of the house maybe not as consciously as I could be- that really help me drop in a little more, help me ground before I begin the day. Yesterday I was heading to the hospital for a long day of work, and he began relating how he had recently encountered someone and he really worked on seeing them new, fresh, not “bringing the past forward.”

Every moment we are changing, becoming, and so each time we encounter one another we are a different person. (Scientifically, at the cellular level as well, as millions of chemical reactions take place in the body and cells arise and pass away with great rapidity) It seems that most of the time, however, the habit pattern is to bring the past into the present encounter. If you had a tiff yesterday, or were rubbed the wrong way several weeks ago, us ever-evolving-humans let our experience with that person be influenced by the past experience, instead of simply allowing the present to be the present without choosing to let it be colored by the past experiences. Maybe this would be especially helpful to remember over the holidays when we find ourselves in the midst of family and would-be ingrained past habits/patterns. I suppose if our minds are still lingering in the past, this is bound to happen. Which, brings us back to why we practice. To dwell more in the present where the nectar abounds.

As I was leaving, Dan  also said, “Don’t be a judge, be a scientist.” (Don’t judge it, just observe it) I liked that too. He read it in a book he is reading called “What the Buddha Taught.” It is sort of the Gideon’s Bible of SE Asia. It was in the bedside table of a hotel where stayed in Thailand. And it is one heck of a good read.

With that, it is time to go sit.

 

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