Vivi loves to do things herself. She gets very excited about tasks most of us consider mundane and don't even think about. One of those things is brushing her teeth:
Here she is actually brushing her teeth. Obviously we still do it for her, but we do let her try first.
Watching her take pure joy in the thing that she is doing right in the moment, reminds me of Thich Nhat Hanh's book, "The Miracle of Mindfulness." A friend suggested that book to me when I was going through a difficult time. Hanh is a Zen master. He tries to get you to think about living in the present by really feeling each moment. He uses an example of washing your hands and goes through each step in excruiating detail, feeling the water flow, hearing the water flow, etc. If you are completely immersed in the here and now, there is little room for worry about the future. Regardless of what turmoil you might be feeling, if you are ok and safe in this moment, then that is enough.
I have to admit that while I appreciate the principle, I never actually finished the book. I quickly lose patience with authors who use too many adjectives or describe things in finite detail. I do however recognize that the detail is actually the point of the book, and that I clearly hadn't fully embraced the message.
I tried to put this in practice this morning. As I walked Jenny, I tried to listen to my breathing, to feel the hot pavement beneath my flip flops, to watch Jenny's movements, to listen to the birds, to feel the warmth of the sun. I found myself more relaxed and in tune with the world around me than I have been in a long time.
None of us knows what tomorrow will bring. We have to enjoy what we have now and try not to worry so much about the future.
"Yesterday is history
Tomorrow is a mystery
Today is a gift That is why it is called the present."
- Eleanor Roosevelt
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