She finally had the opportunity to learn about someone who has a longer and grander beard than her papa! My copy of the book has illustrations by JRR Tolkien himself, and I have the sketchbook by Alan Lee right beside us for additional visual inspiration. It really is a joy to introduce another generation to the joys of this literary masterpiece. If you haven't read this in awhile, or at all, I highly suggest it.
I share that to illustrate how each of us is constantly holding onto many different kinds things in our soul at any given moment. And those things, those emotions and thoughts and struggles can often derail whatever I'm supposed to be doing in the moment; it can make me inattentive to a conversation I'm having, or distract and frustrate the creative process I'm trying to engage in. Over the years I've utilized many different ways of centering myself in the moment, and I wanted to share one of my current practices as a way to encourage you on your own journey. You definitely don't need to do it like me, but perhaps this will spark a way of becoming present in the moment for you.
Before I highlight my practice, allow me to ramble on a bit about why centering is so valuable to me. As I'm drawing or painting, or just having a conversation with my family, if I'm not present in the actual moment I'm living in, I'll often be inattentive and uninvolved in what's really going on, and I'll miss out on so much. Just last night my wife was telling me something about her day, and because of something else I was doing, I realized that I never heard the end of her story. That's the very definition of uninvolved! Once I came back to myself, and apologized, I reentered the conversation and we continued on. Some sort of periodic centering practice helps me to not blunder through entire days like that.
Another reason this has become valuable to me is that I've learned, through my mistakes, that I can only receive a gift of love in the moment I'm living in. I can remember about an experience of being loved in the past, or I can look forward to it in the future, but it's only in the moment that I can experience it or share it with others. I can only experience a kiss in the moment. Our experience of the presence of the Spirit is only available in the moment. An experience of breathtaking beauty only happens in the moment. I mostly miss out on those experiences when I'm living in the future or in the past.
So here's one of my current exercises for centering myself: working in my sketchbook. Yep, you read that right. My sketchbook is one of the places where I have to be present in the moment I'm in, if I want to make a decent drawing. Time slows down for me as I crack it open and begin to observe and draw whatever is right in front of me. The distractions fade as I focus on trying to really see, and scribble down what I'm seeing. And I know that what I'm drawing isn't going to hang in anyone's home, nor am I going to try to sell it. So I'm free to listen and look, free to try new things, free to experiment, free to experience the moment and just playfully engage in my drawing. After a few moments, the encroaching distractions are gone, and I'm again available.
