Saturday, May 27: Chapter 27: Waking Up is Fun

WAKING UP IS FUN
It’s now five thirty in the morning. According to the habitual mind, this is “too early.” Old habits say: “Should be sleeping.” And the old bugaboo: “Going to be tired later.”

Later, shmater. Maybe yes, maybe no, but why waste my time now worrying about and preprogramming myself to be tired later? I’ve got somewhere to go early this morning, so now is the marvelous time to get up and write today’s essay. If I didn’t have to get up early, it would be a marvelous time to lie in bed and sense myself and follow my breathing. Maybe I could make small and interesting movements that gave pleasure to my brain and my body, and allowed me to explore possible new connections between possible friends: say the toes and the tongue. Or the pelvis and the elbow. Or the elbow and the lips. Who knows? Just like a party where guests who are previously unfamiliar, if they are open, can gain great delights by associating with someone out of their usual range of acquaintance, so in sensing new combinations, we can have some inner delight.

Inner delight. Either I’ve got that going or not. If it’s happening, I’m living right. If not, time to wake up. Wake up with the realization that sensing myself and my breathing can always bring my back to the present. Wake up with the awareness that words in my head can either be pointing to useful activity and love in my life, or to useless complaining and worry. Wake up with the excitement of what can I be aware of now. And then now.

And then now.

It’s no big deal and it’s the biggest deal in the world, this difference between some world that was or will be and right now, fingers on the keyboard, right now air coming in my nose, right now, feet on the floor. This is my life. Yours is….?

Air in or air out or between breaths. Something is connecting you with gravity. The Earth is down there, under butt, or feet, or lying down self, and we can always sense our relationship to gravity.

We can always notice what is wonderful about now. We can always wonder how we are stopping ourselves if now doesn’t seem wonderful. We can wonder if perhaps releasing our breathing to be more free, perhaps making some small movements that will help our “bodies” feel more comfortable and alive, we can wonder if we are holding our hearts in a tight and condemning mood toward someone or to something. (Bad weather, idiots of the other political party). We can sense our breathing in our lungs, which are around our hearts. We can sense the heart and the breathing and our connection to gravity, and we can bring a slight smile to the corners of our mouth and wonder, why oh why am I not enjoying this now.

Whether it is “early” or “late,” it’s always the right time to be awake and aware and happy. And then, after indulging in that enough, time to get up and go out and be useful to the world or to other people. And if we don’t know how to have a jolly time doing that yet, great: we can have the joy of learning what we need to learn next.

It’s always the right time, isn’t it?