Member Column
by Jim Greer
LW contributor
“I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.”
This stanza from John Masefield’s “Sea Fever” speaks to my lifelong love affair with the ocean. My boyhood was spent in the water and on the sand of Seal Beach. Aboard boats departing Alamitos Bay, I sailed to Catalina, marveled at the sea life that swam alongside and beneath me in glass-bottom boats. Indeed, no child could have had a better life than mine spent upon the Pacific and along its shores.
As residents of this peaceful, verdant community, our proximity to the ocean calls us as it did Ralph Waldo Emerson to “live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.”
The days of March are growing longer and warmer. Flowers and trees are blooming again. And, with the promise of the vaccine’s protection, we can once more live openly in the sunshine. Enjoy a walk around your mutual. Dine in the open air at your favorite restaurant. Take a drive along the coast, roll down the windows and drink the wild air.
For a year now, we have hidden, not just behind masks, but also behind doors.
Fear of the virus and infections has pushed us into unwanted seclusion.
But life is meant to be lived, not feared. The wise Jeffrey R. Holland reminds us, “Don’t wait to live. This isn’t a rehearsal; this isn’t a dry run; this isn’t a preperformance routine. This is it. This is real life. Don’t wait. Savor every minute.”
In a Psychology Today article titled “The Art of Now: Six Steps to Living in the Moment,” Jay Dixit explains, “Life unfolds in the present. But so often, we let the present slip away, allowing time to rush past unobserved and unseized.” He then provides six ways to live in the moment.
• Unselfconsciousness. “Focus less on what’s going on in your mind and more on what’s going on in the room, less on your mental chatter and more on yourself as part of something.”
• Savoring. “Relish or luxuriate in whatever you’re doing at the present moment.”
• Breathe. “There’s no better way to bring yourself into the present moment than to focus on your breathing.”
• Flow. Let your awareness merge with the action you're performing. Your tasks may be difficult, but the action will feel effortless.
• Acceptance. Be open to the way things are in each moment without trying to manipulate or change the experience.
• Engagement. Notice new things. There’s adventure in noticing— “and the more you notice, the more you see. And the more excitement you feel.”
In closing, Dixit explains, “mindfulness isn’t a goal, because goals are about the future, but you do have to set the intention of paying attention to what’s happening at the present moment.” Live in this moment!
