Living Life Consciously

In this moment, you are reading these words - This is what you see. What do you hear? What scents fill the air? Do you feel your feet touching the ground? Living takes awareness. Awareness that goes beyond the thoughts of our mind. Let’s bring ourselves to the present moment through our senses, fully experiencing our environment around us. 

 

A short meditation on breath, that which sustains our life:

 

Breathing in, I know that I am Breathing in

Breathing out, I know that I am Breathing out 

A guest posting by Chuck Cuyjet

I wake up and the first thought and first sound that passes through me is "Thank you."

I think of it as my morning prayer which used to be offered in sheer gratitude for another day. Something that has not been given to several people I've known and loved over the years. But while my approach to the present still contains my sincere thanks for breath it also holds something much simpler. 

It is the breath itself.

I take it in consciously and feel it corse through my body, awakening each cell to awareness. I exhale that first breath with the words and offer the promise of reaching for each moment granted to me with relish, gratitude, and enjoyment. My second breath comes with a question: "What will my lessons be today?" 

Some days it's, "What can I give today that will be meaningful?" But always it's some sort of question. I take subsequent breaths and exhale them in a quest to see if I can find the right question or questions for my day. But I never let the search obscure the clarity before me.

And life is pretty clear when I stay present in the moment, even the painful ones. They perhaps ask the best questions and offer the best lessons. I feel the pain, sometimes the panic, and I remind myself to calmly breathe and be in the moment. I still feel whatever pain there is, whatever panic arises but those feelings are less than what I am. I have the same approach for those delightful, pleasant moments as well, delving into the pleasure of them but reminding myself that they are momentary.

The moments most important to me are those I share with others, the stories we create together. The people that mean the most to me are those who share the sacredness of the moment. Dear friends and strangers who pass by on life's sidewalks and roadways. Holding sometimes just a glance for a second but offering their complete presence to me and the world they contribute the highest coin to our treasury of life, themselves.

At night, I see what questions I have attempted to answer, what experiences I've learned from, and what I may have offered of value. Regardless of my summation as I find just the right position under the covers I take in a deep breath and utter aloud my night prayer, "Thank you!"