Being Present

There’s a beautiful anecdote in the historic Sanskrit text - The Mahabharat in which a student asked a teacher, “what is the most incredible lesson in life?”. The teacher responds by saying - “The most incredible lesson in life is that we see people die all around us but we never believe it will be us”. Current happenings like the global “Covid-19” pandemic is perhaps an apropos case in point. We hear of a plethora of people dying daily due to a mysterious virus, it forces us to rethink our approach to life for a moment knowing this could well be us but then moments later, complacency sets back in.

I recently had the pleasure of listening to Will Smith speak about the loss of his father and the invaluable lesson that experience taught him. Bearing in mind most people don’t get a forewarning about death as it often happens suddenly, Will spoke positively and inspiringly about the fortuitous gift of time they had to bond even though the prognosis was that his father only had 6weeks to live following a terminal cancer diagnosis. He went on to say, that despite their differences and all his childhood traumas, he and his father had the rare opportunity to mend broken bridges. Living in the vivid reality that his father only had 6 weeks to live, they ensured that every time they spent in each other’s company was memorable. Luckily, his father lived for an additional 3months, and they were afforded the unique opportunity to revel in being present in every hello(s) and goodbye(s) whenever they saw one another knowing each moment could well be their last.

Moral of the story is, every time we say “goodbye” to someone, we can’t know if it's the last time we’ll see them. Life is always like this, yet we live in delusional denial that every moment could be the last. Despite obvious distractions (e.g Technology), we ought to learn to be present in the richness of our experiences with one another. We ought to refine our attention with clear recognition that for all beings, tomorrow isn’t promised. We ought to rid ourselves of the delusion that we have an opportunity of “tomorrow” to do that which we left undone “today”.

So my charge to Self and You this week is to endeavour to “Be Present”. To attempt to mend broken relationships with friends or family and to value every “Hello” and “Goodbye” like it was our last. To genuinely mean it when you ask someone “how they are” and to be present in the meaningful moments of life.

Remember - “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift...that's why they call it present” - Master Oogway

Peace, Love & Light.