It is not uncommon to move through a day on a very

Every second provides an experience that may never come again

strict schedule, moving from event to event merely marking time as a restriction in completing your day’s actions. Move quickly, work quickly, think fast, love quickly. The conditioning of our lives leads us to value brevity in completing all tasks because it is viewed as the most efficient use of time.

Yet the more efficient I tend to be, the less I find real enjoyment in life. Ticking chores off the to-do list today as quickly as possible seems to lead to me ignoring the moment and living for the future. The real problem is that the end never arrives. The only thing we are guaranteed to experience is the exact time we are in right now. Our mind is always guiding us to the future, resulting in anxiety. Thoughts about the past only bring regret. The happiness of life can only be found and enjoyed by living and enjoying the present moment.

Where is This Future?

So often, I have spent large portions of my life planning for tomorrow, and thinking about the future. I went to high school preparing for college, went to college to prepare for a career, and started a career to give myself the money and materials to live a life and prepare for the time when I would retire in 30-35 years. We attach our expectations to the results of each step as well. Yet we never reach the goal line until life is over.

The problem I had with this life plan was what would I be preparing for after that? Death? Eventually, I looked at the scheme and realized that I had missed some of the best parts of life, and they come in every moment. Planning for the future is responsible, and we should all do that, but in making your plan, make sure it is the one you truly want for yourself, not something created for you by someone else. Or you may just be living your life to the tune of someone else’s programming.

Is This Mindfulness?

Each moment is precious. It contains all you are and all you are ever guaranteed to have. Life may be over in the next moment, and there is no way to predict it. Living in a time in the future is a waste and is impossible to do. You are only ever alive, right now, this second at this moment, and each moment provides an opportunity to witness a miracle.

Take your time and look at what is happening, really look—at the emotion of loved ones exchanged each day. The game you are currently playing, the fish you are trying to catch, the love you share, the task you are completing. Each part of the human experience is placed in your path to experience fully and completely. Take your time, drink it in, and enjoy it.

Each moment is valuable and potentially life-altering. Every moment is as unique from one another as every person’s individuality is one of a kind. Notice this in each moment, and life will change for you.

Life isn’t something to get done as quickly and efficiently as possible, and it is something to be savored and experienced in each moment you have.

“Loving this world, seeing the beauty in everything.
Appreciating every moment as a beautiful, wholly contained, pearl of eternal nature, this is the world to me.

A never-ending string of pearls…. every moment is in and of its self a lifetime,
and when we have affection and let ourselves experience life without expectation…
that is when the majesty of the world opens her petals to us…
And welcomes us home.” ~ Carlos Castaneda

Fear

Khalil Gibran

It is said that before entering the sea,

a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,

from the peaks of the mountains,

the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

and in front of her, she sees an ocean so vast,

that to enter

there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.

The river cannot go back.

Nobody can go back.

To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk

of entering the ocean

because only then will fear disappear,

because that’s where the river will know

it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,

but of becoming the ocean.

Silence and space are two of the factors that allow all things to exist, but they are there lying in the background of life largely unnoticed, unappreciated, or even unwanted. But without them, we could speak no word, or we could bring creation into existence. I am taking a moment to appreciate both the silence and space with all of their magical capabilities today. There is a power in the silence of a moment that many feel we need to fill with some noise to be comfortable. The same can be said for space, and we often go through our days paying no attention to space all around us. We focus on the things that exist, not seeing the opportunities all around them. Let’s focus today on the power of silence and the space in our lives.

Hear the Silence

It is normal to pay attention to the sounds we hear. For example, a voice brings us information, a song that touches our soul, the dialogue in our favorite shows, or just the sounds all around us. But to focus on the silence all around us makes all of these sounds possible. Pay attention to the quiet and ignore the sounds for just a short time every day. When you pay attention to the outer silence, you pay attention to the extreme silence. You create an inner silence inside of yourself. This allows your mind to become still.

By bringing your mind to stillness, you can see and feel everything around you calmly. The outer silence creates the palate for sound to come into being. The inner silence provides a canvas for the clear internal words and noises to be spoken as well. Honest thoughts of value can come to you out of the silence of your mind. The answers to questions asked, the route to find your happiness. Stillness inside starts with paying attention to the silence without. You can’t pay attention to outer silence and not become still inside, and that contains within it the possibilities of all things.

Wide Open Spaces

For anything to come into being, there has to be a space for it to exist. The power and value of a room are not the four walls but the space inside the walls. It is the same for everything and every place else. It is the absence of things that creates the potential of our world. A blank page is an ultimate playground for great.

Do you see an empty room or a room full of potential?

art of all kinds, writing a story, a thought, or drawing a picture. The space we see is the potential for everything to exist. Space itself has no actual existence, but it allows all other things to exist.

Become acutely aware of the space all around you. If you look closely, you will become aware of the space and the feeling of no thinking, which allows all thoughts to come into your head. Look at the nothing in the room and see its potential. You might see the potential in the space inside you as well—space for creation, caring, and kindness. There is no limit on the number of these things you can create. Like the silence, space is still and infinite in potential. Look for your creations in the space in your life. It can be shaped into what you need or desire to create.

Connections

Both space and silence allow you to calm and silence your thoughts and allow for the things inside you that are a gift to the world to rise to the top and be shared with all. The cap on the bottle can be removed by becoming still with the silence or empty like space. It allows for things to come out hidden by the sounds or lost behind the things that we already are occupied with. Change your focus from the sounds you hear or the things you see to the silence behind the sound and the space surrounding everything in the world. This observation is a doorway to creativity and understanding yourself.

“Space and silence are two aspects of the same thing. The same no-thing. They are externalization of inner space and inner silence, which is stillness: the infinitely creative womb of all existence.” – Eckhart Tolle.

“Let silence take you to the core of life.” ― Rumi

“Never say anything that doesn’t improve on silence.” ― Richard Yates

Jonathan Hilton Mind Connections

Tag Archives: moments

Enjoying the Moments

Where is This Future?

Is This Mindfulness?

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