Bit-of-Joy #8

Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of joy. – Sarah Ban BreathnachI'm reminded of a moment I had with my teenage daughter - as she shared how Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace talks about calculus and the fact that in any given instance nothing moves (a point on a graph) but over time (many points on a graph), we see motion.If at any given moment all is still, then how do we learn to live in that stillness?The present moment, in reality, is fleeting. A moment in time is just that, a moment of stillness. Living in a moment of stillness is great if we are meditating - but what about the other hours of the day?I like to consider 'the present moment' as more than a literal moment.We have 86,400 seconds in a day. Do we have 86,400 moments? Or is a 24-hour day the present moment? Or is a moment an event - like a scene in a movie or book - like the 'moment' I had with my daughter?We are never guaranteed another 'moment'. Whether that be 5 seconds, 86,400 seconds, or any number of seconds in between.We have only now.  Whether we are meditating, eating, chatting with a loved one, making love, yelling at the driver in front of us, or crying our eyes out -- we have only this moment in time.Given this -- do we want to spend this moment holding grudges, in regret, or fretting over the past or for worry, anxiety, or fret about the future?To live in the present moment is to GO ALL IN - and if we go all in, regardless of what that moment is, we open ourselves to experience JOY.To experience true JOY doesn't mean to always be ecstatic - but to be fully immersed in a moment, embracing and honoring what is.Have you ever enJOYed a good cry, a good argument, a good scream? Have you ever experienced JOY in a moment that is less than pleasant?