In the Blink of an Eye

At some point every young boy dreams of possessing super powers. They want to fly, shoot lasers out of their eyes, and have superhuman strength just like their favorite super heroes.  I can’t help but laugh remembering the week of cold showers I took as child hoping it would transform me into the Iceman. The transformation never took place but I am realizing that I have always possessed a super power.   I have the ability be wherever I want to be in the blink of an eye.

We actually all have this amazing gift but struggle to bring it to fruition. The key to be wherever we want is first learning how to be wherever we are. We have become programmed to always be on the go, to always be checking things off our to do list and to always be contemplating our next move. We have failed, however at developing the aptitude to just be. The constant pull of having something else to do or somewhere else to be limits us from being fully present wherever we are.

It took me awhile to come to terms with this super power because I struggled tremendously with being where I was.   If eating dinner, I was thinking about cleaning up the kitchen or what to do later. While teaching a class, I wanted to be at lunch. Once arriving at lunch, I was focused on my to do list after school. When with friends, I was wondering where we were going and what we would be doing later.   During a date I would be… well you get the picture. I was never fully present. My body was there but my mind was already at the next place it believed I wanted/needed to be. I failed to live as Common suggest, “never looking back or to far in front of me, the present is a gift and I just want to be”.

Once I started slowing down and being mindful of the gift God gives us in the present some fascinating things started to transpire. As I eat dinner, instead of woofing it down as usual to meet my mind at the next thing I wanted/needed to do, I actually started to smell, chew, and taste my food. My dinners became amazing and there seemed to be joy in every bite. I set marveling one morning over how great a spoonful of Raisin Bran was and realized I didn’t want to be anywhere else but eating my cereal.  The same thing eventually started happening to all parts of my life. The more mindful I was while doing things, the more joy I got out of what I was doing. The more I enjoyed what I was doing, the more I began recognizing that every time I blinked my eye I had been transported to wherever I wanted to be. It just so happened to be where I currently was. I’d blink and I would be eating, washing the dishes, having a conversation, sitting with friends, relaxing on the front porch and there was no other place I felt like I needed/wanted to be.   I was finally learning how to utilize my super power and just be.   As I continue learning, I grasp that “to fly as fast as thought to anywhere, you must begin by knowing you have already arrived”(Richard Bach).