“Being in the Moment”

There was a particular day while on sabbatical in France two years ago when the idea of a people always being in the right place at the right time really made sense to me. Melinda and I chose to not have a car, wanting to experience a year in which we relied on public transportation. On this day, each time I planned to catch some aspect of public transportation, the vehicle I planned to catch was right there, like it had been waiting for me.

As part of this week’s inspiration message, I encourage you to go read the blog entry I wrote that day.

Next, practice imagining that you are exactly where you need to be right now. Doing this, the experience can be so profound it might feel like each moment has been structured just for you. I don’t mean in some egotistical way, like you or I are the center of the universe or something, but that each thing we individually experience, each of us, has been structured just for us.

Applying this to my day in France, I imagine that the moment I had on the water taxi was structured just for me. Everything came together at just the right time for me to have the experience I had, just as it did for the boat captain and a mom and her son, all of us being on that little boat at the same time. In that moment, our individually tailored experiences all came together for two or three minutes. And in those couple of minutes were multiple “opportunities to meet.” I took advantage of a small one, acknowledging the kind way the captain greeted me as I entered the boat and the kind way he bid me farewell when I exited.

The captain’s kindness has stayed with me, although it probably meant very little to him (I doubt he wrote about having met me, for instance). But practicing being in the moment, I continue to want to celebrate it.

Link to Book: “My Grandfather’s Blessings”