Life In The Present

I’m not sure where I found this image (I like to give credit)…one page led to the next and then the next…you know the drill. Anyhow, this image stopped me in my tracks (or at last in my surf). I try to live simply in many aspects but I often still feel I’m just rushing (or walking or biking) from one thing to the next…arrr, the angst of modern life. Anyhow, it made me remember that the moments in between the big things are the real life, the mundane things…I just have to keep remembering this: life is in the present, no matter what the present may offer.

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.“

“Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.“

“Life is available only in the present moment.“

—Thich Nhat Hanh
Click here for more Thich Nhat Hanh quotes; click here to visit the Plum Village web site

>Life In The Present

>I’m not sure where I found this image (I like to give credit)…one page led to the next and then the next…you know the drill. Anyhow, this image stopped me in my tracks (or at last in my surf). I try to live simply in many aspects but I often still feel I’m just rushing (or walking or biking) from one thing to the next…arrr, the angst of modern life. Anyhow, it made me remember that the moments in between the big things are the real life, the mundane things…I just have to keep remembering this: life is in the present, no matter what the present may offer.

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.“

“Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.“

“Life is available only in the present moment.“

—Thich Nhat Hanh
Click here for more Thich Nhat Hanh quotes; click here to visit the Plum Village web site

You’d Miss This In A Moving Car

Sometimes I think walking is even better than biking (please don’t be mad at me, fellow bikers)…I just mean that it is so meditative and you can take so much in (biking, though, is still more practical, I think…with it’s speed and ability to carry stuff).

I live in the historic Allentown neighborhood of Buffalo…it’s a small neighborhood and very walkable and bike-able (is that a word?)…Allentown scores a 97 out of 100 on walkscore (compared to a mere 83 out of 100 for the ever-trendy Elmwood Village). Anyhow, what I like most about the neighborhood is it’s funkiness…and the things and people that you see and meet while walking or biking…things you’d most likely never notice while gripping a steering wheel with one hand and a cell phone with the other.

The other day, for example, there was an enormous stuffed panda bear leaning against the brick wall of an apartment building…it was obviously slated for the garbage truck (wish I’d had my camera)…it was beautiful, sitting there in all it’s scruffy fluffiness with a brick backdrop. Here’s another example: three golf bags at the curb. What’s the deal, I wonder? It wasn’t garbage day…just three abandoned golf bags sitting at the curb. I’m not sure what it is, but something about seeing them there just made me smile…and laugh a little (it still does). And you’d definitely miss this if you were driving a car.

>You’d Miss This In A Moving Car

>Sometimes I think walking is even better than biking (please don’t be mad at me, fellow bikers)…I just mean that it is so meditative and you can take so much in (biking, though, is still more practical, I think…with it’s speed and ability to carry stuff).

I live in the historic Allentown neighborhood of Buffalo…it’s a small neighborhood and very walkable and bike-able (is that a word?)…Allentown scores a 97 out of 100 on walkscore (compared to a mere 83 out of 100 for the ever-trendy Elmwood Village). Anyhow, what I like most about the neighborhood is it’s funkiness…and the things and people that you see and meet while walking or biking…things you’d most likely never notice while gripping a steering wheel with one hand and a cell phone with the other.

The other day, for example, there was an enormous stuffed panda bear leaning against the brick wall of an apartment building…it was obviously slated for the garbage truck (wish I’d had my camera)…it was beautiful, sitting there in all it’s scruffy fluffiness with a brick backdrop. Here’s another example: three golf bags at the curb. What’s the deal, I wonder? It wasn’t garbage day…just three abandoned golf bags sitting at the curb. I’m not sure what it is, but something about seeing them there just made me smile…and laugh a little (it still does). And you’d definitely miss this if you were driving a car.

Biking and Spirituality

The “dashboard” of the mule, circa late January 2009

I have often found bicycling more than just a mode of transport from point-A to point-B. Nor is it simply a way to conserve gas money, get exercise, and save the planet…for me bicycling can actually be a meditative and spiritual practice. When I’m in traffic in a vehicle I, like many, often find myself frustrated and angry. When I’m on a bike life takes on a different pace…things are more relaxed, calmer…simpler.

I, of course, am not the only one who feels this way….click here, here, here, here, and here.