Being present

I raced into the Metro Station today and continued to race toward each tier of escalators, knowing that because of weekend track maintenance that, if I missed this train, there would be a significant wait before the next one. I got behind one slow person after another blocking the escalators.  Of course, I could see the red tail lights of the train leaving the station just as I passed through the turn style.

Deep sigh!

Everything is a gift I told myself.  Really I did.  One of my proudest accomplishments on my journey is that even when I get caught up in life, most often I do catch myself very quickly and embrace the recognition as a gift.

I walked to my place on the platform, sat down, closed my eyes, and began to breathe each of my new spiritual learning statements in.  By the time I got to the last one, I was actually present.  I sat and felt my body, my breathing, and my heart. 

When the next train pulled into the station, I was relaxed and smiling from ear to ear.  The rest of my day just flowed.  I don't really think anything changed about my day except me: I showed up to enjoy it. 

Being present: what a concept! How much of my life have I missed just because I wasn't there.  Today was a great day and that was a wonderful lesson....again.  How many times have I learned it just to forget?  The thing about the spiritual journey is that we can start fresh every day.

Oh, yeah...