Just BE in it

i always loved the nike commercials statement "Just Do It"- as a kid i pretended to be a person in those commercials and felt so rad and empowered.

as of late, i have come up with my own nike statement...one that i use on a day to day basis...

JUST BE IN IT.

so often we want to run from being in moments. we distract in many ways (we are creative beings) in order to "get out" of moments or ponder the future or the past. too often in dialogues with others, we are elsewhere. either thinking about what we want to say next, or what we want to eat for lunch. the word "present" has been used many times, yet i wonder what it means to playfully PRACTICE it.

we run to yoga classes to get a glimpse of being present. we run to meditation classes and retreats to FEEL it, yet i feel it is time to view it as a LIFE experience. can we be at the bank of line with 10 people in front of us and only have 5 minutes before you have to pick up your kid? can we be in a conversation where the other person disagrees with us? can we be in joy? pain? confusion the MYSTERY that life REALLY is?

too often we want to know. we want the answers. we want a quick fix. we want to be in charge of our lives so much that we are missing living it.

too often we are in what SHOULD be instead of accepting WHAT IS.

okay, maybe you dont have job. maybe you have 2 dollars or a million dollars in your checking account. i feel the first playful step involves acceptance. "i am here. i dont have a job. or i am sad about missing someone. or i am elated about the love in my life." when we acknowledge WHERE we are - we ARE living. just be in it. be in LIFE. be in all its glories, and its lessons.

last year, i had a rough year. i also had a fantastic year. every day unfolded a mystery for me to witness and accept. there weretimes i did not want to. i wanted to run away and not ACCEPT what life was offering. i wanted to futurize or live in the past...ANYTHING to not feel or BE in it. it was uncomfortable to say the least. i had people sharing with me what they felt about me. some of those things i did not really want to hear. i found myself wanted to disappear or blame...or sigh victim.

when i allowed myself to BE in it. i realized something. that i was still healthy, alive, playful, strong, vulnerable, creative and love. i could hear and BE in the moments in which i thought would "kill" me- and i could come out of those with more awareness then ever before. when i am in it, i realize that we each play a part. we each have our own experiences and perspectives. there is a responsibility that equates to peace that i had never experienced before.

i could be poor yet feel a sense of peace come over me. i knew that i was okay. i could be rich and feel a sense of peace come over me, for i knew that i was okay. neither side of the spectrum took ANYTHING from me.

i could be in the uncomfortableness of anger. i could be in the pain of losing love. i could be in the joy of being in love. neither spectrum took anything from me.

being in it is truly living. we are here to live in all the complexities this mystery called life offers us. it is beckoning us to wake up. the more we allow ourselves to just BE in ALL of it, the more beauty, transformation, peace and love we remember that we ARE.

just be in it.