I Have Arrived. I Am Home

A while back I was running on a wooded country road in a neighborhood that is home to a large Orthodox Jewish population.  It was that golden hour just before sunset on a Friday evening and far up ahead on the road I could see a man walking.  He was dressed in the traditional clothing of that community and was making his way from one place to another following the religious guidelines to not use a car on Friday evening.  “What a challenge!” I’ve thought in the past when I’ve considered what it must be like to adhere to such guidelines.  Yet, on this evening there was something so striking about the way the man was walking that I slowed down and eventually walked just to watch him.  He walked with complete presence as if he were aware of every step he took and was arriving in the present moment each time he placed his foot on the ground.  While he was obviously going somewhere, he didn’t convey the sense of being en route; he was fully where he was with each step.  I remember wondering, “Have I ever taken a step like that while I was moving from one place to another?”  To this day when I recall that scene a sense of peace comes over me, as does an aspiration to bring that presence into my movement.  

This week we will practice arriving with each step, being available to life, and finding the peace that comes from being exactly where we are and knowing we are there.  And in so doing, perhaps we’ll inspire someone else to arrive in the present moment, too.  As Zen master and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thich Nhat Hanh teaches, with each step may we say, “I have arrived, I am home.”

We hope that you will join us.

(And, by the way, summer is a great time to kick off the shoes and feel the blades of grass beneath the soles of the feet.  Why not hit pause and find a patch of grass, bringing your full attention to what it is to stand barefoot for a moment and to take a few mindful steps?  Let us know how it goes!  What did you sense?  What did you feel?  As a matter of fact, we’re headed outside right now!)

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May all beings feel the peace of arriving fully in the present moment, 

Your friends at CMP