Dharma Blog:
While looking at a photo of a group of friends, I was struck by the various expressions as they looked at the camera. One was beaming, a couple were smiling dutifully, one was quite doubtful. All but the beamer had several things going on. Each expressed such different states of mind. Their faces, their posture reflected it. The one who was beaming seemed to have one unified body-mind. But the others were held back in their own ways.
Do you notice often when you are taken up with thoughts, worries, agendas – you hold back. You are scattered and not being entirely present, right here? This happens to all of us. We get busy, attending to so many things at once.
Whenever we notice this scattering, we can always, immediately return to right here, by breathing into our body, into our posture. We notice when we do this, how the vitality of our presence returns. We regain all that we are and can bring all of it to whatever our present circumstances ask of us. With a life of practice this becomes more of a habit – this habit of returning to the present as a source of energy and clarity.