Moments

Wow.
I just read one of my old poems, written in the 1980's. It is one of my favourites, and sometimes I recite what I can remember of it, most of it, as I am sitting in the forest or walking. Here it is.

                Moments


All that comes, then surely goes.
The wind of change forever blows.
See all things clearly. Choose your way.
Experience moments day by day.

Know that the past is past and gone.
Good or bad times, don’t hold on.
Surrender always to the flow
While life’s sweet moments come and go.

Memories become our visions
Of the past and future both.
Do not hold on to things you treasure;
Every moment has its worth.

Walk so lightly. Love each season.
Learn each lesson. Feel each reason.
Make your magic. Court your dreams.
Never mind how hard it seems.

Through allowance of all chance,
We allow ourselves to dance
To a rhythm, old as Earth;
Life to Death, and Death to Birth.

In some ways, this poem says it all. Every word was carefully chosen and every line has something important to say about living in the Now and allowing the divine flow of our lives to move us where it will. Oh, yes. I  dare to speak of Divine Will! But we'll get to that at another moment.
 
This poem was written before I had experienced much of what now provides me with a foundation for speaking confidently to you about living in the Now. Yet, everything is there - the challenge of living in the moment, the need for allowance and acceptance, the need to make a choice to live in the moment....  For it does require a conscious turning away from the temporal concerns of the mind - all those "what if..." thoughts....
 
There is even an explanation for our tendency to get stuck in repetitive patterns. Our sense of how the world is and what we will experience comes from our memories of how it has been and what we have experienced. When we allow our past to inform our present we tend to experience the same sort of thing over and over again. Our expectations help to create our experiences. Our beliefs about the world and about ourselves in the world also help to create our experiences. Our beliefs come from our past experiences and what we have been taught and told. Even good memories can entrap us in what was. We need to release all that has been if we choose to live in the Now. We need to realize that we are constantly being given to. There is no real lack. We do not need to hold on to things, even things that we treasure, for every moment has its beauty and its worth.
 
There is a rhythmically repetitive list of imperatives in this poem "Walk so lightly. Love each season. Learn each lesson. Feel each reason." These imperatives tell us what we must do if we are to bring ourselves fully into a life lived in the present moment.
We are told to walk lightly because when we move through our lives with honour and respect, care and compassion for others we will inevitably 'walk so lightly'.
We are told to love each season because it is through such love and total acceptance of what is around us, not just of weather and seasons, but of all things, that we will come to a full experience of living in the Now.
We are told to learn each lesson because we need to come to a condition of full resolution of all of our hurts, resentments, anger, and struggle before we can fully immerse ourselves in the sacred Now. But more of that later.
We are told to feel each reason because it is not with the intelligence of the mind that we will come to full acceptance of all of our experience; it is with the intelligence of the heart that this will be accomplished, and the heart's knowing is felt. It is through feeling that we will reach the state of peace and the wisdom that we have sought.  
 
Then the rhythm of the poem speeds up a little bit, because when we have done these things that are asked of us, we will feel a quickening. We will "make our magic" and "court our dreams." And this is a wonderful state in which to find ourselves, so please, do not despair. Do not "mind how hard it seems."
 
Allow yourself to dance through time in trust, in joy and in profound appreciation for all that is before you in the moment. By doing this, you allow yourself to dance through time in the Now and in that state of grace, every ending is a beginning and every beginning celebrates the perfection of ending in an endless cycle of BEing in the Now.