Receiving not doing

How do I receive this moment right in front of me?



Oh I embraced my moments today.  I went out and enjoyed a lovely walk in the woods with D. and the dogs.  The sun was shining and I stopped several times to soak it up.  I felt its warmth, its light, its presence soaking right through me...but that, of course, brought me back into my mind and what I wrote about this am. lol.  Mind" keeps pulling me back in!" lol. 

Not sitting well

Something from my last entry didn't sit well with me in the conceptual part of my mind.  It isn't important because it is just a concept but because my mind is still so active in its need to use ideas and words to understand things, I felt the slight "disturbance" of it.  I wanted to escape that disturbance.


What we "do" with this moment?

Anyway...it dawned on me that the thing I found somewhat unsettling was Michael Singer's statement that the real spiritual question we need to ask ourselves is, "What do I do with this moment right in front of me?" I understood exactly what he meant when I first heard that...the exact choice of  words had no real significance other than being pointers to a greater understanding. 

Yet...unbeknownst to me...the "do" in that statement left an impression on my mind. I judged it.  To "do" to me means to actively pursue an activity...to fix...to strive etc. After all the learning I did about the importance of being over doing...that one word hit my psyche in a negative way.  It felt counterproductive.  I didn't like it.  It disturbed me and I felt a need to fix it. Awe...back in mind I went.

Anyway using my mind I rephrased that statement so it settled better in my psyche and allowed me to once again open up to the experience of sun...to my soul! I rephrased it to "How am I going to "receive" this moment "right" here in front of me? "

That just felt so much better to me.  I could relax in that statement because this choice of words had a different symbolic representation for me than "do" did.

This question means to me that it is most important how we receive the moment than what we actually do with it.  How open and accepting of it are we? Do we receive it with defense and attack, resistance and struggle?  Do we receive it numbly or absent mindedly?  Do we receive it with hate and anger, frustration and complaint?  Do we receive it with avoidance and denial?

Or do we receive it with openness, acceptance and love?  Do we receive it with curiosity and awe?  Do we receive it with utter appreciation and amazement?

Receive requires no effort other than opening and closing to what is. It implies more of a surrender and a letting go to what is than "doing" does.

Hmmm! So what is my point of this ramble?

First of all,  I want to explain that words are just pointers and symbols of a greater truth.  They themselves mean little.  Whether Singer used "do"  or " received" is irrelevant.  As soon as I read that statement, I knew what he meant.  That is what is important.

Yet, it is beneficial  to show an example of how quickly the mind steps in to judge, to disturb, to attempt to fix what we receive.  Mind will come in when it comes to words and concepts.  It prefers things a certain way.  "I accepted "do" but my mind didn't. So still being so much in my mind ...I allowed mind to attempt to  fix it. It came up with another question to ask on our spiritual journey.  Neither right or wrong...it just did and that statement does "feel" a little easier for me to absorb for whatever reason so I will accept it.

Secondly, maybe you find it easier to absorb as well. "Receive" your moment with an open heart and you experience reality.  Witnessing and experiencing reality can instill joy and awe in us because Life, with all its ups and downs, is a miraculous thing to uphold. We really have to "do" nothing.  It does all!

All is well!