Hiya Pinkies! I wrote this post last week, very early in the morning, while I was in Big Sur, and I wanted to share it with you.

Clinging to the Moment

I awoke early this morning to the nature sounds of Big Sur. My husband still sleeping, I threw on a sweater and made my way to outdoor sofa, overlooking the breathtaking view of Big Sur’s ocean cliffs. The sun was just beginning to cast its pink-hued glow on the landscape, and I ran back into the house to find my camera, so I could capture the beauty. I kept trying, take after take. But try as I might, my little Canon just couldn’t reproduce what I was seeing with my own eyes. Then I realized I needed to stop. I was trying so hard to freeze the moment in time that I was forgetting to simply enjoy it. So I put down the camera and enjoyed the sunrise, knowing that the memory of it would exist only in my mind.

But isn’t that always the case? How often to we cling so hard to past memories or future worries that we fail to appreciate what actually exists- which is this moment, right now. Think of how much time you spend remembering yesterday or planning tomorrow. Even this precious moment, this beautiful sunset, will be gone in moments (in fact, as I write, the pink is fading as a warm golden yellow replaces it). Like it or not, life is ephemeral. Trying to grasp it is like clinging to a trapeze of shifting sand. If you depend upon it staying the same, you will inevitably fall.

Being Present

I think back to moments in time I’ve tried to attach to- the precious quiet of my father holding my newborn only hours before he died, the snuggled-close feeling of being in a bloody labor bed with my best friend and sister as she awaited the birth of her daughter, the sunset backdrop of my Big Sur wedding to my beloved. All are precious memories- and valuable as such. Yet, those moments, at the time, were fraught with worry. How much longer would Dad live? Would Becca’s birth go well? Would the sun set so fast that we lost light for our wedding? Why do we do this?

What if, instead, we commit to actually living, to being truly present for each moment of our lives, both the joyful ones and the tragic ones? What if we stop regretting what happened in the past or fretting about what the future might hold? What would that look like?

Try it, Pinkies. I dare you. Please report back. What does this moment- right now- hold for you?

Living right here, right now,

Lissa