The Moment And Money

I am living in the moment and waiting for a cheque to arrive in the mail.

It sounds so magical and mystical to live in the moment.  No wonder the monks and disciples can do it – they aren’t waiting for a client to pay them, or vacation pay to be added to a paycheck.  Heck, they don’t even have to look for job! Praying is their gig.  (smile)
 
For some of the rest of us who have electric bills to pay and kids runners to buy, the idea of being present to the moment may not seem practical.  The Guru’s live in seclusion; we have mortgages or rent to pay.  The wise healers live in the woods or some small town; we live in cities where it costs us to park our car and pick up milk for the baby or visit granny at the old folk’s home.

Our whole lives seem to scream for money.  If the bill isn’t due today, we “worry” about when it is due and will we have the necessary funds to pay.  In the moment, we may not owe anyone, but every moment we live, it costs us anyway.

 

So how do we reconcile the necessity for money with the peace that is possible in the now?

Jesus taught; “Look at the lilies of the field, they neither toil nor spin, yet not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned as fine as they are.”  King Solomon was known as the wealthiest king of biblical history, and his money could not buy the freedom and confidence of the humble, fleeting lily, which yielded to Source.

I need money.  There are bills to pay.  But as I write this post, in this moment, I have a great seat on a commuter bus taking me home from a day of teaching.  The sun is shining, cherry blossoms and apple blossoms line the streets and create a cascade of colorful ruffles waving hello to the passengers as pass by.

A moment has passed.  I am still doing well.

I have yet to find a moment in my life, that if I really focused on only that little bubble of time, I wasn’t happy and my needs met.

The present doesn’t create the anxiety.  Our reactions to the present create the anxiety.
Our resistance to “what is” perpetuates situations where we are not happy. If you can breathe and stop and notice the moment, the sight, the smell, the texture, and sounds, then ask yourself: Without remembering the past or forecasting into the future, is there any reason I am not happy in the moment?

Maybe the answer is yes.  You are not happy because they are towing your car away, or your lights won’t turn on anymore, or your broker just told you that you lost 200k.  The moment is difficult because you connect it with past conditioning.  The last time you lost even two thousand, your spouse hit the roof.  You can only imagine what losing 200k will fester.  Or, the last time you didn’t have enough money to pay the electric company it took days for them to turn the power back on and you had to pay an additional deposit.  So, we use our past to forecast the future outcome.  The “now” or the present moment is in the middle, and being completely ignored.

It is possible to detach from the projections and simply be in the moment.  Watch the car as it is hoisted up on the back of the tow truck.  Understand that this moment is uncomfortable, but you are okay.  You are not happy if you have your car or if you don’t.  You are happy because of the Presence you live in, moment by moment.

Think of each moment as though you just turned the page of a book and it is blank.

Each moment is poised for something unpredictable and uncertain.  You could immediately become fearful, OR you can embrace the blank paper as possibility.  Every moment is a container for life.  Most of us are squander our lifetime away moment by moment, always rehearsing the events of the past, or worried about a future we have no certainty will ever exist

I can remember many a time I thought we wouldn’t make it.  Money was scarce and I felt doomed.  There have been nights I slept in the car, with nowhere to go.  Those nights changed my life because I realized when I awoke in the morning, that despite the circumstance, inside myself, I felt content, even joyful.

Every moment contains all you will ever need to be happy.

I made the call to my client after I got home.  His first words were offering sincere apologies.  I’ll have the cheque tomorrow he says.  But for now, I am enjoying the taste of cool vanilla ice cream.

Living in the Grace of the Moment,

Harmony

Photo Credit: www.alexisleon.com/figs/cherry.jpg, http://photo.net/philip-greenspun/photos/digiphotos/200206-yellowstone-2/kyle-needs-help-2.jpg