How would your life change if you made the choice to open yourself fully to each moment as it happens?
Your first response might be “Don’t I do this right now?”
Maybe and maybe not.
Bombarded with distractions, all the time
We are constantly bombarded with distractions, most of which our mind filters automatically for us. Sometimes we are “playing with our kids” with our computer open and our phone in our hand and we are trying to get our partner’s attention. This isn’t very “in the moment.”
I know people who are distracted so much by a ticking clock they can’t focus on the conversation they are attempting to have with friends.
If you have that sort of sensitivity and you haven’t learned how to focus on the conversation, life becomes frustrating rather than fulfilling.
This goes beyond ticking clocks and flashing lights and startling smells that rise up and greet you as you are walking down your office hallways.
Your entire life experience will become better when you are 100% engaged in whatever you are doing at that moment. This is true no matter what you are doing: enjoying a concert, taking a walk, writing a blog post: the outcome is the same. Better results with better focus.
Embody the moment and rewards will follow.
Our experiences are better when we are fully immersed in whatever we are doing instead of sitting blankly scrolling on our phones, waiting for our boss to give us an inspiring assignment or checking the Netflix schedule praying something might capture our attention.
To experience full embodiment, we allow ourselves to be engaged with our senses as we are living that moment. Still not sure what I mean?
Here’s an example from my own life which could have been another boring everyday moment which instead, became not only sheer delight, it caused me to write a poem.
Today I poured a usual cup of coffee into my favorite mug and sat down to drink it while I wrote social media content. Somewhere on the way from the coffee put to my seat here in the corner, I decided to make the experience one of embodiment: completely in touch with the tactile, sensory feelings within my body as I drank the coffee.
Coffee: Ordinary or Extraordinary?
Here is what happened when I allowed myself to be present to the experience of my lips and coffee.
I lower my head, as in prayer
Mug lifts to meet my lips, cold orange edge
rests on the soft yet firm shelf my lower lip offers
tongue meets lip from inside as coffee
pours forth, into my waiting mouth
slightly bitter warmth, pleasure for barely
a moment slides in and down and then
my throat opens and closes and satisfied,
my lips make way for the exhale, while
still heated slightly, while still cozy, while still
pleasantly plumped from the
liquid invocation of a new day
no matter what arises my lips
and I know. Coffee comes to visit
and temporarily makes all things perfect.
Coffee, writing and poetry are beyond the ordinary.
Rarely does my own poetry make me laugh, but this one did.
Embodied writing can be playful, deeply moving and sacred. It can be all three.
I may rework this poem but for now, I am sitting back admiring the moments I had drinking the coffee, taking notes while I drank, and now being brave and silly enough to share it with you here.
A Master Class in Embodiment and Your Richer Life, Right here
Last week I blogged about sharing ordinary moments as extraordinary. Today may be seen as the master’s course in the same subject.
Do me and your reading audience a favor: fully immerse yourself in any given ordinary moment. Take notes. And then write something from it, anything. I wrote a poem, you might write a sales letter. It doesn’t matter WHAT you write, it simply matters that you write this way.
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Julie JordanScott lives in Bakersfield, California in a house too small for quarantine life. She leads discussions on Zoom and is polishing her most recent memoir and some poetry for soon-to-be publication. If you would like her to speak to your group over ZOOM until travel is available again, she would be happy to talk to you about that OR maybe you are looking for a slightly quirky, very open hearted, compassionate and tender Creative Life Coach. Text or call her at 661.444.2735 She would love to speak with you soon.
Martha says
I love your poem! What a way to start your day.
Virginia Allain says
Few things inspire me to poetry but maybe I should give it a try as a way to focus and really experience the moment. Thanks!
Jeanine Byers says
Love the poem! Especially the last part. That’s how I feel about tea.