What Death Keeps Teaching Me About Living in the Present Moment

Many of us spend years waiting for life to begin after the next vacation, promotion, relationship milestone, or achievement. But the deepest fulfillment often comes from learning to fully inhabit the ordinary moments that are already here.

We Forget That Being Alive Is Extraordinary

To call this one most precious life “precious” minimizes just how significant and remarkable it is to have that singular pulse – 💓boom-boom…💓boom-boom – beating right now that tethers you to this world.⁣

Today, you might also have the great gift of…⁣

•    traveling through this world with a mobile body, ⁣
•    smelling the deliciousness of simmering butter, garlic and onion in a skillet, ⁣
•    experiencing the pleasures of a furry friend snuggling on your lap, ⁣
•    listening to the first-thing-in-the-morning bird songs through your window, ⁣
•    or wrapping your mouth around a buttery croissant with fresh raspberry jam…⁣⁣

…this is SERIOUSLY winning the game.⁣

And if you ALSO are living reasonably PAIN-FREE…without regular debilitating nerve pain, headaches, back pain, or other limiting physical sufferings that, for so many, can arrest those five sensory pleasures…well, then you have basically WON the human lottery.⁣

As if all of that wasn’t enough… ⁣

The Best Part of Being Human

If you also know that you’ve got exclusive, VIP access to an inner apothecary with thoughts-feelings-beliefs that you can choose in order to co-create harmonious and coherent experiences on this planet …I mean, I don’t know that it gets much better than THAT as a human.⁣

It’s easy to forget that you and I are moving through the world with the most exquisite and truly priceless thing called LIFE right this very moment.⁣ It’s easy to forget that we truly are living in the present moment.

💓boom-boom…💓boom-boom⁣

A Reminder About Living in the Present Moment

Sunday, I was at a celebration of life for a most extraordinary human, friend, and a pillar in my community who transitioned at 56 years old entirely unexpectedly. ⁣

As you read these words you HAVE what I know my friend’s family and her friends wish that she still had…💓boom-boom…💓boom-boom…the thrum of Life in your heart.⁣

You have it.⁣

All of us do this precious moment.⁣

And some of us, quite literally, won’t tomorrow.⁣

But none of us know when that tomorrow will come for us. But as my husband likes to remind me, ⁣⁣

   “There’s only one exit and we are all moving that direction.”⁣⁣

True enough.⁣

Living Intentionally Every Day

When someone dies around me (and I, maybe like you,) have had more than my share of death in the last year, it’s a JOLT to the system. It’s a remembering that today and everyday we are preparing for our final breath whenever it may come.⁣ And that living in the present moment becomes so much more front-and-center to each day.

I believe that we prepare for that last sweet moment by investing with wisdom every single breath until the last. I pray (and intend) that that final breath will be filled with love-joy-acceptance-trust-surrender.⁣

So I’m getting good at those very things TODAY.⁣

Why We Wait to Truly Live

I used to WAIT to experience the love-joy-acceptance-trust-surrender business during peak moments while skiing with my family, camping, when I wasn’t feeling annoyed by something my husband did, or going on vacation because during the “work week” or the mundanity of life, I was too busy doing all of the doing to trouble myself with things like bone-deep-engagement in life.⁣

I stopped that many years ago.⁣

Now, I LIVE as much as I can in the love-joy-acceptance-trust-surrender state even on a regular Monday while I am writing this message to you. Even when, I feel like my husband is being difficult with me during our early morning walk with our dog, Jane. ⁣

[TBH, he waaas being rather curt but I anchored in compassion and floated on through with good humor and patience and voila…we were both laughing a few minutes later!]⁣

In other words, I’m no longer too busy ‘doing life’ or ‘rushing through’ to fully authentically-deeply-truly live my own life.⁣ I’m truly living in the present moment of my life.

I don’t put anything off…because tomorrow might be my day.⁣

And happy bonus…living this way also AUTOMATICALLY manages that whole “regulate your nervous system thing”! ⁣

What Would You Pour Your Heart Into Today?

Imagine! When you choose nourishing thoughts, feelings, behaviors, people, and perspectives you don’t need to spend much time ‘managing’ your adrenal fatigue.⁣ (Instead, living in the present moment gets to be so joyful!)

Is there something that you are waiting to right in yourself or in your life until there’s a better time?⁣

Do you find that you are pouring your vitality, your 💓boom-boom…💓boom-boom, into the dreams of others rather than your own desires, longings, or passions?⁣

If you are waiting for a sign to stop putting off your own life and start pouring your boom-boom into what will deeply satisfy you, maybe this is it. ⁣

What small (or big) thing can you pour your 💓boom-boom in to create more alignment in your relationship with yourself, your spouse, or your life today?⁣ Write this down as a sign that you committing to that small or big thing today!

Enjoying watching gold finches snacking on the feeder out my window and happy to share my 💓boom-boom with you right now,⁣ xojg