Press record.

Put my bag down, take out the computer and clothes, turn on the diffuser, light a candle, fill the kettle and turn it on, make a coffee, take a seat and start to read. 15 minutes before class I close the book and start to set up. Camera on, computer plugged into camera, get the microphones set up and turned on, pull the big screen into position and turn it on and then lighting, lighting and more lighting. So much to think about! Where was I? Oh yeah…search soul to see what we’re going to talk about and integrate into class, get dressed, put on the headset, Spotify open, get the set list ready, check volume, open the Zoom meeting and share audio, check levels again and … we’re off! People come onto Zoom a little early and we chat it up, mute the live class and… here we go! Class is ON!

Now you may or may not have noticed in this abridged check list above that I didn’t mention pressing record on the camera in order to put it up on demand later. You would be correct in noticing that fact. After all this prep and production, I forgot to press record. That little red button perched atop the camera yearning to be loved. 

The fun irony of this tale is that the subject of the class was “not knowing”. It was to not think about what you’re doing but to allow it to just happen, one step at a time. When we’re thinking about what we’re doing then we’re not doing what we’re doing… we’re thinking instead. I was so busy thinking about all the stuff that we were going to do that I didn’t do all the stuff I was thinking about (one sec, my mind just sneezed). As a result, we miss steps in our lives. We rush through our very existence in order to get things “accomplished”.

Thoughts pull us out of our body and our body lives very much in the present moment, it has no choice. It’s a physical antenna to the Now. It’s our tether to what’s happening presently and it’s always accessible to help us remember what’s important… right now. So if you feel yourself getting caught up in thought and pulled out of the moment, maybe just feel your body where it’s at for a sec. If you’re seated right now, move your attention to your sit bones/ butt knuckles and feel them get a little heavier into your seat. Send some attention to your feet and feel them on the floor. And then give a little attention to the fact if you just did that, you probably stopped thinking for a moment and got a little more present and a little more relaxed. In turn, giving your mind a chance to untangle a bit, even if it was briefly. Now if you’re standing while you’re reading this you should look up because you’re probably in a crosswalk or standing in line somewhere and your present surroundings are way more interesting than you burying your face in your phone right now (but that’s a different letter entirely).

It doesn’t matter what you give your attention to: the breath, the feet, the butt knuckles or anything on that miraculous bod of yours. Just send some awareness to it and give your brain a minute to catch it’s breath. Our bodies are an important key to unlocking that pesky door of presence. Give it some attention from time to time and you may notice that you remember to press the record button more often.