Living in the Moment

          I do not know why this thought came into my head today, "living in the moment." I could just as well say, "being in focus." I remember being a child and being totally engrossed in whatever I was doing. There was nothing else in the world but that moment in time. I did not hear outside noises, did not think about anything else. I have watched our granddaughter and daughter grow up and noticed they too have experienced that as children. I have seen other kids at our granddaughter's birthday parties and they are oblivious to anything but that one moment in time when they are running around and laughing and having fun.

          That focus seemed to fade as I grew up. It could have started when I was in first grade. Suddenly there were other things to think about, going to school, being able to answer questions and not look stupid, taking tests, avoiding getting on the bad side of cruel, vicious, frustrated nuns, the list went on from there.

          By the eighth grade things were more complicated. Girls were involved, trying to get into the right high school, answering the unavoidable question, what are you going to be when you grow up? I suppose there are kids who have that answer, but I did not have an inkling until three years later. 

          High school just added more things to consume my thoughts, moving me further away from living in the moment. Girls were growing in all the right places, report cards were ever more important to worry about, college was on the horizon for 90% of my class and that question about what am I going to be kept coming up. It seemed to consume any adult in my life and others I had just met. 

          I got a job working in a gas station at 16 and thought maybe I would be a mechanic in the future and that got me wondering whether or not I could make a living as a mechanic? I was making $40 a week and figured I would need 100 a week to fulfill my dreams. I was already living in the future instead of the moment. The radio in my car quit working so I had to take it to a small radio shop to get it repaired. Walking into that little shop all the bells, whistles and lights went off. I could see my future, but how would I get there from here? Again, I was back to the future, not in the moment. 

          I took the navy placement test at 17 and found I was eligible for any technical training in the aviation field. That set the hook and a month after my 18th birthday I was off to boot camp and electronics training after that. My fate was sealed unless I failed training and ended up loading cargo on navy ships headed for the Pacific ocean. 

          Through the years in the navy, at Burroughs and at Litton I have had days when that living in the moment, that total focus, that being in the groove have descended upon me. Those days are the shining light in my life. When those days happened I was happy as a clam. I did great work, accomplished tasks that evaded others and reveled in those moments and hours. It has been a challenge to live in the moment all of the time, though I wish it was all of the time, but the monkey mind takes over and thoughts and worries and old memories keep going off like flashbulbs at a Hollywood red carpet event. Some things that put me in the moment these days are the odd, mundane chores around here, like mowing the grass or working on the lawn mower or chain saw. I am not sure why they keep me focused, but they do and I enjoy them. 

          Living in the moment is for me, the best thing in life. I wish you too the joys of living in the moment.