Living in the moment

4-2-09 focusing brain (Happy Birthday Dad and Mil!)

Dark, silent, alone.... my brain began to race..... thinking of all that I needed to do the next day, wondering why I was living this split in two life...... It was in the middle of the night, last week, and I was experiencing one of those nights where my sleep was disrupted. My healing dream state was replaced by worry and an overly active brain. I tried to focus on my breathing and to relax in the moment.

This poem/prayer was sitting on my bed table in the book I have reference before: "100 Graces, mealtime Blessings" by Marcia & Jack Kelly. This was a good reminder for the need to stay focused, present and living in the moment.


I was regretting the past and fearing the future.
Suddenly God was speaking.
My name is I AM

I waited.
God continued,
When you live in the past, with its mistake and regrets,
It is hard.
I am not there.
My name is not I WAS

When you live in the future, with its problems and fears,
It is hard.
I am not there.
My name is not I WILL BE.

When you live in this moment,
It is not hard.
I am here.
My name is I AM

From Helen Mellicost
(on the kitchen wall of the Ranch Guesthouse, St Benedict’s Monastery, Snowmass, Colorado)