Being Present in Your Own Life

In the last week, I have had  no less than three wham-bam-a-ha moments that have centered me – in a wonderful way. Each has left me asking myself: Am I really present in my own life?

Here is a prime example: last weekend, I attended a beautiful – and I mean BEAUUUUUTIFUL, over-the-top – birthday party. Every single solitary detail was spectacular and planned to the tee.  Instead of just taking it all in, I was the one (of many!) people who (now regrettably!) pulled out my phone to take photos.  I started to share on social media a photo of the (very famous) performer….

BUT, the Silver Lining is that I gave myself a snap out of it moment and stopped myself. Feeling like a complete shuck, I wondered: Why on earth am I going to do this?  Fortunately, I made the right decision NOT to share.  I reminded myself that I never post a photo of anyone or any event without expressed permission.  I wasn’t going to name-names, but stilllllll….

Another downer was that by futzing with my f-bomb phone, I managed to miss being in the moment: enjoying the music, dancing and being fully present. Ugh.

This reminds me of a few years ago when the HOTY and I had a big blow-out party. Unfortunately (for us!), many people shared photos from the event on social media.  The backlash from the sharing was sad & yucky. Too many people asked: Why wasn’t I invited? How could we say: We had a limited guest list? without further hurting their feelings? It gives me knots in my tummy just thinking about it. What was a celebratory event for us required damage control and inevitably hurt people’s feelings, both of which took away from our celebratory spirit. Double Ugh.

Beyond the whole privacy issue (that’s another post in and of itself!), thanks to our omnipresent technology, it seems as though so many of us have become habituated to passing through our life with little or no presence.

Now, I fully acknowledge (and am learning firsthand myself!) that being present takes time and effort and goes against the grain of our multitasking society. However, taking this time and effort – and some snap out of it moments! –  will help me/us see that being present to our life is more important than the passage of events in our life (especially when captured digitally).

I learned this the hard way last week, but the Silver Lining is that it was indeed a very valuable lesson!

* A beautiful party photographed by Elizabeth Messina, of course and styled by Merryl Brown!