Living in the Moment

Our Thanksgiving celebration with family is always a mixed blessing. We spend a lot of time on the day before preparing our house for a larger group of people and we spend the day after sleeping late, recovering, and cleaning up. We always enjoy our time with friends and family, and it is always worth all the work.

One of the most difficult things to experience during the day of the visit, however, is the multitude of children. All the young cousins are excited to be together and are very good about playing with each other and keeping busy without too much supervision. But, they are loud! And they use the house as a small race track, or as part of their hide and seek activity. So, there are moments when I am a bit overwhelmed with the noise.

Last Thanksgiving, one of my relatives gave me the teaching that the “noise” was natural result of children playing. And, the “overwhelm” was my interpretation of the experience. She accomplished this teaching with the simple statement, “Isn’t it great to see them having so much fun together?” And, of course, my attitude immediately changed and I could empathize with the joy they were feeling in their play together.

With that in mind, there is something to be said for the beautiful silence I experienced the day after Thanksgiving. And relating to that particular joy, I offer some advice on living in the moment from Mr. Rogers.

“We get so wrapped up in numbers in our society. The most important thing is that we are able to be one-to-one, you and I with each other at the moment. If we can be present to the moment with the person that we happen to be with, that’s what’s important.

Our society is much more interested in information than wonder, in noise rather than silence… And I feel that we need a lot more wonder and a lot more silence in our lives.

How many times have you noticed that it’s the little quiet moments in the midst of life that seem to give the rest extra-special meaning?”

Yes, like a moment of awareness in the midst of children giving thanks for being able to play together. More noise, more wonder, more silence.