Living in the Moment
In the end, we’ll all become stories
“Forever is composed of nows” — Emily Dickinson.
It’s New Year’s Eve and my family just concluded our usual New Year tradition of spending the first time of the year in the presence of God. At the last amen, I looked up at my family’s smiling faces. It was the new year and I could already hear the loud gong and fireworks going off in the distance. Someone worded “Happy New Year!!”, which spurred off a chain of “Happy New Year!!” from everybody else.
Smiling faces, excited hearts, and slightly sweaty bodies. I and my little sister bolted up the stairs, towards the veranda where we would lift our hands so high for our phones to receive network signals. We were so excited to know the amount of New Year messages we received from friends while watching the fireworks.
We are in our village. A place where masquerades, loud gongs, and the smell of earth reside. Where half-dressed children roamed the streets, unaware of lurking danger and everyone spoke in my native tongue devoid of any apprehension to the fact that I don’t speak the language. A place where animals roam the streets, and a chicken could casually stroll into your compound with the awareness that you don’t have the authority to slaughter it.
As I stood smiling at the incoming messages that I and my sister used as a benchmark to figure out who was the most popular, everything paused.
My little sister with her hand in the air, trying to receive a signal. The fireworks display halfway split in the air. I’m leaning on the rail, smiling at my phone. My older sister is walking on the veranda.
I am in the standstill and it’s like my future self stands afar off, looking at everything unfolding. My mind revisits this memory every Christmas.
It creates such an emotion in me. Not sadness and not absolute joy. A mixture of beautiful sweet sour Joy. Everything has changed. Now I rarely care to tell anyone Happy New Year, and neither do I seek to receive goodwill messages from people. Now, underneath the veranda full of joyful memories lay my father’s grave.
UKIYO- Living in the moment. Detached from the bothers of life.
Learn to live in the moment, because you don’t know if you’ll ever get it back. Be present with the people around you. Laugh, dance, and cry but don’t put people off because of your current emotions.
“Most humans are never fully present in the now because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.” — Eckhart Tolle.
In the end, we all become stories that people would tell. What would you want to be remembered for? Someone who felt everything with everyone and made them feel heard and seen? Or someone who was just part of their passing memory. People may not remember what you did, or what you said but they will always remember how you made them feel.
Savor every moment. Pay attention to and appreciate your current experiences.
Living in the moment can mean different things to different people. It might mean more you and fewer people or more people and less you. Whatever it might mean to you.
I haven’t hacked the skill of living in the moment, but I’ve learned to ask myself a question that lets me get to where I want to be. The question is “What do I want?”
Sometimes It feels like you’re neglecting your future responsibilities by trying to just live in the now but then you have to ask yourself “What do I really want to do”, and go ahead to do it. This question helps me to do what I want to do in the now, so I don’t get to regret missing the moment.
So while you seek to achieve the greatest feat that takes most of your time and attention, don’t forget that forever is made up of nows. And the people in your now may not always be there.
Till next time, Love and light.
