October: Of being present.

Hiya!

Been a minute. 

I hope you’re holding up well and the start of the month has started on a good note for you.

Since August, I started a new category on my blog entitled ‘new beginnings’ and at the start of every month since then, I have been intentional on processing it here with you and sharing my monthly mantras.

August’s mantra was ‘trusting the process’ and September’s mantra was ‘we live, we learn’. All these mantras have been inspired mostly by the books I’ve been reading (books in the Bible) and circumstances and experiences that I’ve had to live through. I must say, it’s been a roller costa ride for the past few months, but no one said it would be an easy road when you start a new chapter of your life.

I love the analogy of the caterpillar that blooms from the egg stage, to the larva, pupa and into a stunning butterfly consequently. The pupa and larva stage might seem too lengthy and uneventful, but when it finally spreads its wings to fly away, the beauty it exudes has no reflection of the past dormant stages.

My mantra for this month is being present. The past few months have showed me that it’s very easy to live your life and not take notice of the little moments that define your relationships with the universe.

There are so many people that have passed on and lost their lives due to different reasons in the past month and I realised that our lives are ephemeral. We let the seemingly trivial things pass us by without taking much notice of them and this is because our minds are so pre-occupied with the past or the future, or unfinished tasks, that we lose touch with our surroundings.

Have you ever been in the same room with someone, whether a friend or a relative who has come to visit, and seen that person spend half of the time you’re together on their phone? Talking to people who aren’t in that moment with you and finding so much joy in that? Have you ever pictured a situation where you leave and the person you were with the previous day, gets into a very bad accident and passes on?

The moments you’d have shared the previous day instead of being on your phone, would’ve been priceless. Now all that’s left is a pang of guilt for not having spent the time you’d hoped to have spent with the person.

This applies to all aspects of our lives, being at work, sitting at a table with family, spending time with friends, to mention but a few. Each second and time we spend doing a particular thing has to be priceless.

Paulo Coelho in his book; The Pilgrimage, which I reviewed on the blog a few months back, encourages us to pace ourselves. Take time to walk in the neighborhood and just draw in the air around, take-in the all-encompassing sound of the trees oscillating and birds twittering, the sound of the car tyres as they reel on the tarmac or murram road and the sound of the toddlers’ voices snickering or giggling to their road side games or the sound of their parents calling out their names.

This month, it’s my prayer that we won’t let the seemingly trivial things and prized moments shared with our loved ones pass us by. Being present means being fully invested in whatever you are doing at whatever time you are doing it.   

King Solomon, the shrewdest king that ever walked this earth tells us that everything has a timing and ought to be done within that timing. (Ecclesiastes 3) therefore, to be more effective, in whatever we do, we need to be present. Be present as we go for those silent walks, be present as we work, be present as we cook, be present basically in whatever we do. There’ll be a big variance in the outcomes of these activities if we apply the concept of being present.

This will definitely help us keep track of what we have to do, spend more meaningful time with our loved ones and be able to savour every second. Including sunsets and sunrises. I’m such a sucker for these two!

So my treasured readers, I hope that October will be whatever you wish it to be and that you will find more satisfaction and inspiration in just being present in whatever you’re doing.

Blessings and see you in the course of this month. 

Cheers.