You're here. At least you look like you're here. But where is your mind? Thinking about the next thing? The next place, the next meal, the next errand or chore. We spend so much time anticipating what's to come, that we are rarely fully here for what is. Any great spiritual thinker will tell you that the only thing that is real and that is certain is now. You're not guaranteed the next thing, so make the absolute most with this one. Thich Nhat Hanh would tell you to do that whether you were doing the dishes, driving, walking, even sitting in traffic - that there's a way of meditating while doing them. Focus on your in breath, and nothing else, and then focus on your out breath, and nothing else. Do this with big, deep, diaphragmatic breaths. Avoid shallow breathing from the chest. It stresses the body and the mind. That's why you see the reminder to breathe everywhere. Extended, deeper breaths tell the body to ease and the brain to calm. It helps us focus and feel more clear. It helps us be in the moment and to be at peace with it.
I've lived my whole life up until the last couple of years, mostly in my head. My brain has the ability to register quite a bit at once, and has trouble controlling impulses. I wasn't diagnosed with ADHD until I was in college, but the symptoms were certainly always there. Like most things, you learn to work with it. You make adjustments so that you are less likely to fail. It's a way of life. You gravitate toward the things that flow and you run like hell from the things that don't. For me, the thing that didn't flow - at least without proper medication - was a traditional 9 - 5, any-kind-of-office-type-job, so instead I worked in restaurants. And I continued to work in restaurants until it almost killed me. I was good at multi-tasking and great at short conversations. These are building blocks of a strong server, and that is a slippery slope. The better you are at it, the more likely you'll keep doing it, even after it no longer suits you. I do digress. Another blog awaits.
So, to be successful in the hustle and bustle of a big, busy restaurant, you have to always be anticipating the next thing - getting drinks to this table, salads to that table, and entrees to another, coursing your food properly, pre-bussing plates, silverware for desserts, making sure the right things get to the right people. Oh, and that person wanted extra ranch! It is never ending. You're always having to hurry, or so it feels that way.
I don't know if I was ever comfortable living that life, but I got seemingly good at it. It took me a long time even as a Personal Trainer to get good at being in the moment, but since I have, I've been a better one for everyone, and that is for certain. I bring myself back each and every time I catch myself drifting, or at least I try to. I am so much better at it now and than I ever imagined I could be. I owe a lot of that to lessons by Thich Nhat Hanh and Ram Dass. "Be here now," I remind myself. What I hear, what I see, what I smell. I stay with it. I stay with them. You will never realize the value of your true presence with someone until you give it to them, and once you do it's a gift to you both.
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