Live for the Moment

I need neither future nor past, but to learn to take today not too fast.  ~Jeb Dickerson

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.”

~ Benjamin Franklin 

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”  ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

“Leave the problems of God to God and karma to karma. Today you're here and nothing you do will change that. Today you are alive and here and honored and blessed with good fortune. Look at this sunset, it's beautiful, neh? This sunset exists. Tomorrow does not exist. There is only now. Please look. It is so beautiful and it will never happen ever again, never, not this sunset, never in all infinity. Lose yourself in it, make yourself one with nature and do not worry about karma, yours, mine, or that of the village.”  ~ James Clavell 

Be Present

Be mindful.

Time is relative.

Often, it is relatively fleeting.

I was riding in the car two nights ago when I noticed the moon.

A huge, low hanging moon overlooking the city.

I am fascinated by the sky and all the wonders it serves up.

I wanted nothing more than to capture that delicious moon.

Rush, rush, rush went the cars.

"Must reach destination." thought my husband.

Me? I was enamored by the moon.
My little digital and I tried and tried but could not capture the moon at such speed.

Instead, we caught the perfect example of what happens when we don't take the time to slow down.

If one is not careful, life can flash by in a blur.

Look back to the past for a moment, plan for the future at times,

but live your life in the present moment.

It's call the Present because it is a gift!

 

 

Reverb - Photo (a no go)

Reverb prompt:

Photo – a present to yourself

Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you.   It's Christmas!!! As a gift to myself I am skipping today's prompt. Rarely are there photos take of me as I am always the one behind the camera and it sounds quite treacherous to me to search for photos today. Instead, I will take this opportunity to wish all of you the happiest of holiday seasons no matter how or what you celebrate! The new year is quickly approaching and I want to take the opportunity to thank all of you for your friendships, the memories, the connections made over the miles. I feel truly blessed to have shared in the lives of every one of you. Love and peace to all.

 Darling husband and I went to bed after midnight. Youngest son woke at 1a.m.!!!

He could not fall back asleep and came in waking us regularly

until he finally proceeded to get the whole house out to the tree.

All presents were opened by 6:30 a.m. Can you believe?!?!?!

Perspective

Have you read Eckharte Tolle's "The Power of Now"?

It is a priceless book

teaching us how to live in the moment we have.

The Present moment.

It is called the present because it is just that. 

A gift. A present.

It's all we really have.

The past is gone. Dwelling wastes the moment that is.

The future is not yet. Don't waste this moment on what is not.

This moment.

This is what we have.

I was looking at a few shots I took earlier in the year and I was thinking about perspective.

I was walking along a path behind some houses and fell in love with an old glass door

resting against a house. A timeless backdrop for new and fleeting flowers.

I couldn't decide what to focus my camera on as they both were beautiful.

This first picture focuses on the door. It is old, from the past, behind the flowers.

It seems to represent the passing of time, history,

what could have been, what is no longer,

what little remains.

Yet it is beautiful.

This next picture focuses on the flowers.

They are young, new, fresh, alive and alert.

They deserve attention as they are the present moment.

They weren't there a bit ago, they won't be there forever.

They are here, Now.

They are also beautiful.

If I consider one step closer, 

I could think of me.

I am the one behind the camera.

I am the action, the future, the decider of what is to come.

I am the future of the picture.

What perspective to take.

What to do with the end result.

That is a beautiful thing.

That got me thinking.

Past, present, future.

How blessed we are as humans that our eyes, our minds

have the ability to see, to focus, to decide.

past, present, future

we can decide what to focus on, when, and how we view that which we see.

I choose NOW.

This moment.

The past is there. I see it. There are troubled times and there are great times.

The past helped form today. Who I am, where I am.

Memories are a part of us but they are not us.

I acknowledge and respect and I move on.

The future is yet to come.

There will be good and there will be bad.

I cannot control it but I can hope for the best,

dream of a beautiful life, look ahead, even plan ahead, 

but not too hard.

I don't want to get lost in what is not.

Above all, I choose now.

I acknowledge past and future.

They are part of life.

But I choose NOW.

This moment.

As far as the pictures?

The door, the flowers, me.

I see them all right now and it is beautiful.