Befriending The Moment

You have probably heard it said, that you can pick your friends but you cannot pick your family. The present moment is like family. It shows up and you decide what kind of relationship you will have with it.

To our ego's way of thinking, circumstances determine the quality of our relationship with the present moment and the forms that come with it. Choice is a high teaching when it comes to how we react to life. Left to our ordinary perceptions, our joy meter goes up when things are going well and we can embrace the moment quite agreeably. Conversely, we dislike and resist the moments that look like trouble. The path of mastery, as taught by Tolle, and embodied by Jesus, Buddha and others, suggests an approach to life that is an open, welcoming embrace of each and every moment. Unconditional hospitality to all that shows up can profoundly change our lives.

An image of such extraordinary welcome is the opening scene in Les Misérables when Jean Valjean, who is seeking food and shelter, knocks on the door of a monastery after being rejected by countless households. A fearful nun and a kindly priest meet him at the door. Valjean tells them he just was released from prison for stealing, and shows them his parole papers declaring his dangerous nature. The nun cringes. The priest, without blinking an eye, invites him to enter, and tells him he is welcome to join them at their table.

You and I face this choice each moment. We do not know what the next moment will bring, what fate will knock at the door. The continuum of misfortune and fortune is vast and imminently unpredictable in this life. If we allow the conditions of life to determine our level of welcome or resistance, what hope is there for our peace? Can well being ever be achieved if the winds of change must always favor our preference? The answer of course is no. Yet, the ego dies hard and thrives on a continuous stream of dissatisfaction, ignorance or resistance of the present moment. Even when things are going extremely well, there is only a fleeting embrace of the pleasurable moment, before a past or future thought edges out a hospitable embrace of the present moment.

The importance of this message is knowing that we have a choice when life shows up. Here is the clear advice of Eckhart from A New Earth:
Once you have decided you want the present moment to be your friend, it is up to you to make the first move: Become friendly toward it, welcome it no matter in what disguise it comes, and soon you will see the results. One decision changes your entire reality. But that decision you have to make again and again and again - until it becomes natural to live in such a way. - Eckhart Tolle
The way we will bring forth the new earth is one choice at a time. How we cast our vote in any given moment will determine the world we live in. We may not be able to control what shows up at our door, but we can greet whatever it is with equanimity, maybe even befriend it. Such an approach to life can transform our hearts and that is the surest way to change our world. As Jesus said, there will be trials and tribulations in the world, but I have overcome the world. There is an overcoming power in you and me, and one powerful demonstration of that power is making the choice to befriend the present moment.