Power of the Present Moment

Happy August! We are back in Florida and it is definitely hot! I very much enjoyed my last two weeks in the northeast and I LOVED seeing some of my old students and teaching a class at Hastings Yoga. 

My message was my favorite quote and I shared how I saw this play out in both small and large ways while on my visit.

“There is no power on earth greater than the right action in the present moment.”- Vasishta

For part of the time we were in NY my husband and I were staying at a hotel. It felt like a vacation for me (not so much for him as he had to work) and one morning I went to the hotel gym to work out. I was the only one in the gym and as I finished my workout I looked around for wipes to clean off the equipment and I didn’t see any. Then just as I was walking out the door I noticed them off to the side, not in the most obvious place. When I opened the top to the container, the wipes were way down in the bottom. I will confess that I thought for a moment about not sticking my hand down there to grab one because my hand would get all wet and how maybe I should just leave without wiping the equipment down but I decided to do the right thing in that present moment. When I went back to wipe down the treadmill I noticed that I had left my armband on the machine. If I hadn’t done “the right thing in that present moment” I would have left it there and by losing it I would have caused myself more suffering later. 

That was a small example but there were larger ones as well. Being back in a place I had lived for so long definitely had me looking at the choices I had made to be where I am in this moment with both gratitude and nostalgia. It can be challenging to not get caught up in the memories and the past and being back felt strange at times, almost like the last year hadn’t happened. The practice of being present helped me see and be with all of the emotions more mindfully.  

The choice to be present allows us to make mindful decisions that effect our future… in both small and large ways. It offers us the power to understand that what is happening now, in the present, is largely influenced by our past decisions. Whether it’s a small decision like deciding to “do the right thing” and clean off the gym equipment or a large one like relocating and starting a whole new life… the power we have to make mindful decisions by being present in the current moment is truly the gift of mindfulness.