Monkey Mind

"I can’t escape my monkey mind even on retreat. Daily contemplative prayer is crucial to helping me live in the now. It takes constant intention and practice to remain open, receptive, and awake to the moment. We live in a time with more easily available obstacles to presence than any other period in history. We carry our obstacles in our pockets now, vibrating and notifying and emoji-ing us about everything and nothing. And let’s be honest: most of our digital and personal conversation is about nothing. Nothing that matters, nothing that lasts, nothing that’s real. We think and talk about the same things again and again, like a broken record. Pretty soon we realize we’ve frittered away years of our life, and it is the only life we have." (Richard Rohr, "Living in the Now: Practicing Presence," Daily meditation of Friday, November 24, 2017.)

Unless I am present to myself, I can't be present to others or to God. Unless I'm present to myself, I can't realise that God is not out there, but God is in here: He is right here right now. All that I need is right here right now. The only way to access these is to be present here, to be present now, to be present to myself. I know the hardest place to be is to be here, the hardest time to live through is right now right here. Unless I am present to myself here and now, I can't be present in a healing way to others. In discovering myself, I discover God. In discovering God, I discover myself and my communion with others.