You Play The Piano

 Living is an art like music and dance. The art of living fully in the moment is the way of living.When our mind is occupied by the future we  miss the existential unfolding beauty and joy of the present moment. A mind that is present enjoys the present of presence. The mind that is absent misses the present of presence. When we are fully engaged and absorbed in the present, we are in the flow, in the being zone. 

I have been practicing mindfulness, the art of being fully present, attending to what is happening inside and outside without being hijacked by the past or the future. It has been a great blessing to me. This way of living is enriching my life personally and relationally.I have been able to appreciate the gifts coming from nature and people,  feeling my heart with gratitude.

I am 91 years old and I am accepting my aging mindfully and gracefully. If I compare myself with the past, I am sure I will make myself impoverished and miserable. If I worry about the future, I am going to reject, diminish or even destroy the  gifts of the present. I have realized the wisdom of living in the here and now. When I step out of the flow of the river, I miss the water of living and get thirsty.When I wake up from my illusion, I quickly get connected with the flow of life which is beyond space and time. I love Deepak Chopra's book "Ageless Body, Timeless Mind".

May we learn and practice the art of living life fully and share our gifts with others!

Namaste.

Jagdish P Dave

 Thank you for your post as it was what I needed to read at this time in my life.  I have recently gotten involved in a new relationship with a delightfully enlightened man and find it hard to get used to the idea that he finds me so beautiful.  I'm turning 60 in a few months and have been mourning the way that I used to look just 20 yrs ago, but aware that should I live to be in my 80s and beyond, I may be looking back at how I looked at 60 and finding myself beautiful 'then'.  But with age comes wisdom (it's obvious in your post) and I'm thinking by then it won't matter how I look and will actually find how I look then as a different kind of beauty.  Intellectually I realize that looks really don't matter, so whatever longing I have for my past looks is superficial and doesn't offer me anything positive.  Your post has been a real eye-opener and for that I am grateful.