imMEDIAte needs

No links in this blog.  Just some thoughts.

Reflecting on a moment can ruin the moment.  Not always.  But it might.  I learned that today.

I just got back from walking in the snow, the quiet broken only by my shoes scaring away snow from my path, a gentle breeze that should be cold but feels good on a January-like day. Surrounded by the woods and the hills of Tennessee that we graciously call mountains, while the real mountains reside in other parts of the state, I realized what a lovely moment it was.  How peaceful.  How right.

When I got back to my apartment, I saw three young people sledding down the new three inch offering of snow.  Two were sledding. One was taping on a cell phone.  Two were enjoying the moment.  One was taping the moment.  All three were apparently in fear that the moment was so transient that if it was not saved on video, it never happened.

It made me realize something about the phrase “in the moment.”  There are two versions of this.  One version of “in the moment” is actually three moments.  The current moment is surrounded by the moments of the past.  Some may experience these as moments of lacking.  Perhaps they remember lacking what are thought to have been essential elements needed for contentment.  Those missing elements of  past moments may cause a  focus on any present current needs—elements of life still perceived to be missing,  along with the realization of the moment’s transient nature. 

Directly in front of our current moment is the future, which becomes our hopes and fears of the benefits and consequences of the moment.    Those that surround themselves with the past and the future as they live each moment are missing so much.  So many moments are just perfect without having to overlay the context of a realized past and an uncertain future. 

There are those that are probably in the moment in its truest sense.  Each moment is individual.  There is certainly time for reflection upon the meaning of the past and the benefits and consequences perhaps derived from the moment.  But the moment is singular.  It is now.  It is unencumbered by context. Truly living “in the moment.”

Unfortunately, I fall in to the 3-moment category of experiencing life.  I know I am missing something.  I know I am not alone.  I am joined by all those that fear they have to have video of the moment.  To prove it existed.