So you say you want to live "in the moment," do ya?

Acceptance. Surrender. Being with things “as-is.” Presence. Being “in the moment.” None of those things are even possible as long as your relationship to fear is one of stuffing it away, trying to deny its very existence, or making it wrong.

We can't "live in the moment" if we're practicing all of the ways to avoid living in the moment.

Sometimes, fear is what comes up "in the moment," you know?

If what you want is acceptance in your life, especially of yourself and the people you live with, examine your fears. Be with them. Get curious about fear. Dialogue with it. But don’t shut it away. Fear just “is.” It’s a challenge along the way. Breathing with and being with fear as it arises could be one of the most powerful meditations you could ever practice. The theme of so many of my posts lately has been to be direct--to ask you to do something beyond simply reading the post.

So--What might you do, in this very moment? What might you choose? What might you practice? What might you breathe into and "be"?

What if the meditation of being with fear were to start right here, right now? And if you lost that meditation for an hour or a day, would you be willing to pick it back up as soon as you noticed, just as you would return to the breath if you were seated upon a cushion?

You want presence, surrender, acceptance, and living in the "now"? Then go to the now--even if the "now" contains within it fear of "not doing it right" or fear of change or any other discomfort. Being with what arises without condition is powerful.