Last month I met a snail – a big, seemingly clumsy fellow (let’s assume he’s a ‘fellow’) who was wandering down the road right into the path of a cars and vehicles. Thinking I would ‘save’ him I attempted to push him off the road and onto the flower beds. Later that day, I found him wandering on the road again. I decided to leave him to his own devices and am happy to report that I found no snail corpse to prove my fears were right. So apparently he knew what he was up to.
Feeling At Home In The Now
Mr Snail caused me to stop and think of several things about h
- He knew where he was going.
- He set his own pace and was happy in it
- When he was put off the path, he found his way back again…
Most of all, I realized he was at home. Because for him, literally home is where he was at the present.
Today, I saw this lovely cartoon from Francois Lange ,thought of my snail friend again and realized what an apt choice he was to give meaning to the words of Eckhart Tolle.
When you make friends with the present moment, you feel at home no matter where you are.
Image via : http://www.sketchesinstillness.com/
Home is a space where we can most be ourselves. It needn’t be a physical space, it could be a physical state. I’m drawn to think of what Tara Brach in her book Radical Acceptance describes ‘querencia‘ to be a great description for ‘home’.
“In bullfighting there is an interesting parallel to the pause as a place of refuge and renewal. It is believed that in the midst of a fight, a bull can find his own particular area of safety in the arena. There he can reclaim his strength and power. This place and inner state are called his querencia. As long as the bull remains enraged and reactive, the matador is in charge. Yet when he finds his querencia, he gathers his strength and loses his fear. From the matador’s perspective, at this point the bull is truly dangerous, for he has tapped into his power.”
Feeling at home in the now is to be the most fearless we can be.
Do you feel at home in the now?
Image credit for snail on the dirt track – Shutterstock
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Interesting querencia…..
Glad you found it interesting, Geetanjali.
I am getting much better at being in the moment – it reduces the amount of worrying I do and therefore the amount of stress I put myself under. Stopping to smell the roses and appreciating the blessings we have in the day makes life a much happier place to be.
Me too, Leanne. Life is too good to stress over it!
I have read Thich Nhat Hanh’s ‘The miracle of mindfullness’ and loved it. It helped me push hard when I was going through a difficult phase of my life, when my days were ridden with anxiety of all sorts. To be in the present, although is not an easy task, atleast for me. It needs constant reminder, but then the effort is definitely worth it.
My last post shared his quotes in celebration of Thich Nhat Hanh’s 90th birthday, Maliny. It’s never easy, but like you say, worth the effort.
Very nice post. One of the reasons I changed my website to Kim Today was that I want to live in the present and in the moment. I’m glad Mr Snail or maybe Ms. Snail went on her way!
Nice to know about how your blog’s name reflects the ‘now’ philosophy, Kim. I’m sure Mr/Ms Snail is equally glad! 😉
I love the philosophy of Querencia. It’s such a beautiful story to read and the analogy just struck a chord with me. Home is not where we are born but where we find ourselves. It pushes us to the edge and gives the self-confidence.
I love this, Corinne. Being in the moment takes a lot of practice but, it is worth every second. It’s not something you can achieve and it will always work, you have to be always mindful. Easier said than done, but worth it.
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A valuable thought. We’re often so involved in what’s going on in our heads that we forget to pay attention to what’s going on around us. I know I’m guilty.
Corinne, So powerful. Love your snail friend who taught you a valuable lesson. Wherever we go, there we are. Love it.
I’ve been a worrier all my life. I still am. I do try to stay in the now. It becomes easier with practice but then something else to worry about crops up. It’s a process, as the saying goes. I’m going to listen more to that snail. Pinned this post to remind me..
This is such a great post. So often we get too caught up in the past or worrying about the future that we forget to pay attention to the place we are currently in.
This is so perfect and so true. When we’re content with where we are, we don’t worry about where we are, you know? It’s when we feel icky or insecure or less than that we start to carry those stones around feeling like losers and unworthy. Thank you for writing this!
A good lesson..being happy in ones own pace is really the thing to remember..
Such a perfect post and something that I keep telling myself. We drift under pressure and all that around us. But we need to remember this is what it is. Corinne, a lesson to remember.
There is such a new “depth” to your posts and I’m really enjoying that. This was a great point. I sometimes wander off and begin to think “what if Tomorrow” rather than “hi there Today!” I’m going to practice living NOW.