Moment to Moment
In my last post I wanted my life to feel like a series of moments. What does that imply? How do to live that way?
Remembering the moment means living in the present with full awareness. I often find myself preoccupied with the past or planning the future.
I look at a family photograph from years ago. I can see what a special moment that was, l but did I appreciate it at the time? I was probably preoccupied with future plans.
Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.”
Attributed to Allen Saunders but made famous by John Lennon
This often rings true for me. I ruin special moments by being focused elsewhere.
Defensive Living
I often live a few seconds in the future, trying to anticipate what might happen beyond now. It’s like defensive driving- scanning the horizon for potential hazards and thinking of ways to avoid an unpleasant situation. While that is a successful safe driving technique, it robs me of spontaneity. I don’t want to remember an experience in retrospect. I want to fully feel the actual moment.
Now and Then
Sometimes I am fully present. When I play ice hockey, I must pay attention to the puck and the other players. I must be in the game. When I am drawing or painting in plein air or with a live model, I am fully present, and time stands still.
Can I bring this level of attention to other aspects of my life? Could I cook the way I paint? Could I hike the way I play hockey? Can I be with people and not be distracted by self consciousness?
It’s a work in progress.
Capturing the Moment
Having souvenirs of a past experience are important.
A photograph freezes a second or two forever and allows us to remember more clearly that moment.
Banff, Sept 3,2021, 12:04 PM
Creating a painting or drawing keeps me living in the present. The artwork itself may represent a moment in time, but the thoughful assembly of brushstrokes and marks evokes a timelessness quality to the image. The portrait may be drawn on an exact time and date, but the drawing feels like it could be a moment anytime or anywhere.
The painting of the kimono clad women evokes the beauty and serenity of my holiday in Japan.
Today is the golden tomorrow that you dreamed of yesterday, So it will be until the end of time. Today is your day of opportunity.”
A quotation on a wall plaque in my parents’ home from the 1950’s.
