Four Ways To Be Present!

I decided to do something a little bit different this Friday!  Since this was a week about reflecting on retired stamp sets, I thought that I would not introduce a new Four Ways Friday with a stamp set today.  Instead, I want to share with you some thoughts and images about Four Ways to be present.

1.  Plant a seed, watch it grow, and enjoy the fruits of your labor!
This is the first strawberry from our strawberry plants this year!  I am able to be present when I plant in the garden.  I also stay in the moment when I go outside and look at the plants in the garden - literally standing there and watching them grow.  I am also more present when I eat one strawberry that is homegrown as opposed to picking up a carton of berries at the store and eating them.  There is something about being a part of the entire process - from planting to eating - that becomes a part of the actual moment of enjoying the sweet flavor of the fruits of your labor.

2.  Stop to notice, and maybe even smell, the flowers!
I took my camera into the backyard the other day and began taking photographs of all of the different flowers that were growing.  It was amazing to look at them up close, rather than just walking by them and seeing them as dots of color on the landscape.  Being present is about really seeing that which is around you.  To do so, we may actually have to slow down a bit.

3.  Take a nap (outdoors)!
It may seem strange to say that one way to be present is to take a nap :)  Yet, giving your body exactly what it needs in the moment is all about being present.  It is about recognizing that now is all that matters because it is all that you have.  I learn the lesson of being present every day when I watch Willow.  She is the most present being that I know! :)

4.  Create!!!!!!
When I am in the craft room actually making something I am so in the moment!  For athletes it's called "being in the zone."  I guess we artists can call it the same thing :)  Time dissolves.  The here and now is all that matters as we devote our attention and energy to exactly what we are doing.  We experience a sense of timelessness.
It is in the present where we can find our sense of peace.  It is in the present where we can connect with one another.  It is in the present where we can be ourselves and be happy.  I wish you a beautiful now.  May you continue to bring your awareness to the gift of the present :)