Coronavirus stay home: it’s all in the moment
It may not seem much longer, but the Covid-19 Stay Home, Stay Health is really all in the moment. We can bring out attention
All in the moment: simpler
Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash
to what is all in the moment. We can bring our focus to the moment, one moment at a time. That can center our minds and hearts on the very moment’s reality and how and why it matters. That can move our mind away from thinking only about the big picture of “when will this end?”.
You can make it matter. The three suggestions below are not new, although in this context and at this time they may seem new. Perhaps these are just reminders.
Reminders or not, if you try any or all of them and they work, leave a comment, let us know. If you try them and they don’t work, it’s equally valuable for you to let us know. Please leave a comment.
One thing at a time.
It’s too easy to allow your mind to rush and ramble over all that’s going on, all the news that’s not so uplifting, all the things you have to do or cannot do or wish you could do. But it’s so much better to take on one simple task at a time. Allow your mind to focus on just the one thing and the value doing it brings, the pleasure experiencing it gives.
Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite monk in Paris in the early 17th Century, practiced his faith that God is present in the most commonplace actions of everyday life. He performed menial duties in the kitchen of his abbey and enjoyed the spiritual connection from scouring pots and scrubbing the tile floor. The good monk wrote: Nor is it needful that we should have great things to do…We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him…
With the next thing you get to do, view it truly as a single task. Separate it from all the other tasks it may be part of. Allow yourself a few moments before beginning the activity. Give thanks that you have the opportunity to perform the task. Breathe into the task.
You can break it into even smaller pieces
Keep in mind that the purpose of these activities is to allow you to let go of focus, worry, distraction, even distress by feeling confined thanks to Covid-19. Putting your attention to the joy of doing something, no matter how simple, is a proven way to release all sorts of tension.
Suppose your single task from above is putting on a shirt. Take a step closer to being in the moment. Break it down into the tiny specific steps. Surround buttoning each of seven buttons with your attention. Take a moment to recognize (and appreciate) the tactile sensation of the button. Become aware of guiding the button to, then pushing it through, the buttonhole. Notice the last small gesture that insures the button is all the way through and will remain secure.
Brother Lawrence also wrote this: We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.
Before moving onto whatever is next, gift yourself with a moment to reflect on the simple act of buttoning your shirt. How many times have you done that in your life?
Move
In an e-book worth downloading, The Inner Shield against Covid-19, Cynthia Lee recommends that we make time to get in motion. It may be as leisurely as a walk, but it’s better if it can be called “exercise”.
Studies show that each bout of moderate exercise you do (for example, brisk walking for 30 minutes) can strengthen the immune system, but transiently. When you make moderate exercise a habit, though, the benefits of exercise may come to be lasting. Regular moderate exercise is associated with decreased episodes of illness and reduced inflammation throughout the body, which helps immune function.
Here’s a suggestion that just might get you in motion: find music from your past, from some special, high-energy, enthusiastic time. Dig out the albums or the cassettes…or more likely visit iTunes. Find music that makes you want to dance. Then dance. And if there’s no one in your Stay Home, Stay Healthy place, plug in with Zoom or FaceTime, share music with friends. Dance up a storm.
Praying for all that is in each moment
Living, loving Spirit,
the joy and love and peace that are the fullness
of every moment we embrace
shall not go unnoticed because we are distracted.
We accept and celebrate our opportunities, limitless,
to seize each moment with our hearts and our true consciousness.
We give thanks that we can feel and know and cherish
what makes each moment unique, what makes the ‘now’
and endless series of moment after moment before moment.
We allow our minds to become settled,
focused, attentive that our hearts may
open to the blessing of whatever we are doing
in the moment. We feel its blessing.
And we say thank you, Spirit. And so it is.
Amen.
Love & Blessings
6 April 2020
In: Happiness, Mindfulness, Peace, Praying · Tagged with: Mindfulness, Peace, praying
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