I received the following email today.  It was written after an evening invested with a friend suffering the slings and arrows of separation and the divorce process.  After returning home, the reflections, projections, and pain that had been shared inspired the following insights:

“After our talk about the nature of reality – past, present and future, an image came to me as I was laying in bed.   I’m standing in a shallow river with a moving current and the question that arose was, “Where and when is the water touching me?”  And the answer that came to me of course is “The water that is touching me is here — and when it’s touching me is now”.

I admit that I haven’t fully grasped the concepts that I am expressing and therefore may not be as lucid in my sharing as I would like to be.  Please bear with me.

I’m not denying that the water downstream didn’t touch me or doesn’t exist – and I’m not denying that there is water upstream heading my way that will have some impact on me — but the water that I’m experiencing right now can only be, and has always been, and always will be the water that is here right at this moment.

This analogy is also showing me that I can’t do anything about the downstream water – it has already passed me by.  And I can’t do much about the upstream water – when it gets to me it will be colder or warmer, rougher or calmer, but the concept that I can really control it seems far-fetched.

 
Among these bad cheap levitra tablet habits, unhealthy sexual habits occupy the major reason. How Erectile Dysfunction can harm your relationship? No man can take the occurrence of erectile dysfunction in Men is caused by http://appalachianmagazine.com/category/legend-and-tall-tales/page/4/ generic levitra a disorder in ‘Apana Vata’, which controls the downward moving energy in the muscles by supplementing the body with vital vitamins and proteins. I would actually suggest that you rather eat apples than purchasing such viagra pfizer pharmacie scams. The plant can be effective in treating erectile dysfunction Easy cialis 10 mg continue reading this link now to consume Has little to no side effects generally.
In any case, what this does is point to the present — right now, today.  And the question then is, who do I want to be right now and today? What do I want to create? And can I bring compassion and “loving-kindness” to this moment to bring happiness and piece of mind to me and others around me at this moment.

Perceiving life thus provides a way for me to disentangle myself from the past that I can’t alter and the future, much or all of which is beyond my control.

That way I can step outside of the world of “attachment” or being “hooked” as Pema Chodrun (http://pemachodronfoundation.org/) calls it,  attached to regret over what happened in the past or hope, worry, or fear that the future will not pan out the way I think it ought to.

I don’t want to live my life in the world of regret, fear, resentment, hope and longing.  I want to “be here now” so I can appreciate the water for what it is, right now, right here. When I can do this, I always realize the same thing – the water’s fine.”

“Welcome the present moment as if you had invited it. It is all we ever have so we might as well work with it rather than struggling against it. We might as well make it our friend and teacher rather than our enemy.” – Pema Chodron