The Divinity of the Present Moment

Inspirational Articles

by Monique Henchey

Most of us put too much pressure upon ourselves. It’s about racing against the clock, trying to get in as many things in a day that we can. We forget to smell the gentle lavender along our walkway or to notice the drops of water sitting serenely and peacefully upon the hosta leaves after a cleansing rain. We zip by like zombies, forgetting to feel, to taste, to touch. The fresh vibrant greens of a summer morning become a blur, an inconvenience. Stress takes over our lives and the next morning we wake up and start it all over again. When will we stop and how?

It’s about noticing and becoming aware of what is going on within us and around us. Ending stress doesn’t mean that we have to stop everything cold turkey but it is a kind reminder, alerting us to the fact that something is out of balance within our lives.

I am in the middle of a move right now and they say that that is one of the most stressful periods in a person’s life. I agree and yet I also see this as a great gift, a way to truly exercise everything that I have learned over the past few years. What better way is there to see your own growth, than through a life challenge?

I was tossed into the harrowing hurricane of stress and now what? At first, I was blown around, sitting on the wild winds of my past behaviours. It was what I knew. I believe, as humans, that our first instinct is to go to what is known and comfortable. It’s our familiar. As I got tossed about, a sign marked awareness blew by and I decided to grab onto it during the next rotation. I leapt out, held on tight and ended up in the eye of the hurricane. It was calm. I felt present. I looked around and saw many faces, voices and things that needed doing, pleading me to come back into the chaos. I was needed. I remained strangely separate from it all. I realized that I was consciously choosing to remain within the divinity of the present moment. I reminded myself that in this exact place and time I was completely okay. I was healthy and alive and there was nothing but the now. I remained in the center and looked down, noticing a vibrant poppy growing at my feet. The vividness of the salmon pink jumped out at me and I marveled at its beauty and serenity. It had found its own ray of sun through the eye of the storm. It was peaceful. It was being. It was present. I smiled and realized that I had the same opportunities as this wondrous flower. It was all in the power of choice. I could choose my thoughts. I could choose my behaviours.

Would I get pulled back into the pleading, nagging winds again? Probably, but it is about knowing that no matter where I am and what I am doing, that I can always choose to go back to that center of calmness and be that vibrant calm flower. That divinity will always live within me, and within each of us. No matter what is going on around us in our lives, we can never shed the essence of who we truly are, pure divine light. The present moment invites us to remember…

Monique Henchey, B.Sc., is a T.A. in the Total Self program. She is a graduate of the Spiritual Psychotherapy program, has a private practice in Markham and is affiliated with the Durham Homeopathic Clinic in Ajax. She is a published author and has studied Gestalt therapy for the past year.