This morning, while surfing the Internet, I followed a tweet to a Japanese baseball team's new logo.
The slogan Focus on this play, this moment!! has been met with sniggers from baseball fans that, besides being put off by the double exclamation points, find it entirely uninspiring. They would prefer a more result-oriented slogan; one fan suggested Focus on the Victory another Destroy the Giants. Their reactions are familiar to those of us who have been in the mindfulness community for a while and reflect a common misunderstanding of the present moment (or now) as it relates to meditation training.
Many assume that focusing on the here and now means ignoring the past and the future, but that's not the way it works. Everything that leads up to this very moment is part of now. Our goals, expectations and fears about the future are also part of now. For instance, I could no more dislodge my childhood from the person typing this post than I could dislodge my bones from my body. My past experience influences what I'm writing now. What I hope will (or will not) happen in the future, also influences what's happening right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not thinking about the past or the future as I type, nor will I think about the past or the future as I meditate later this morning, but that doesn't mean past experience and future expectations don't influence my present moment experience. I don't need to be thinking about something for it to inform my perspective.
I work primarily with children and teens who intuitively understand that the past, present and future are naturally interwoven. Middle and high school kids in particular tend to have a clear sense of the likely effect what they're doing now will have on what will happen next -- both present action and future expectations relate to what they've said or done before. They understand that if there is a test coming up (in the future) it is important to study (now), and they know how to study (now) because they have studied for many, many other tests throughout their school career (in the past). They don't need to think about this sequence; they know it because by the time kids hit high school most have learned the hard way that actions have consequences. They understand if they don't study their notes from yesterday's class tonight, they are likely to bomb tomorrow's exam. This integration of past and future into present moment experience may not be something kids give much thought to, but it nonetheless informs much of what they do and say.
A misunderstanding of the concept of now can be a slippery slope that quickly leads to a nihilistic take on mindfulness practice. If you view what's happening in the present moment as separate from past and future experience, figuring that what you say or do makes little difference is an understandable conclusion. Understandable, but completely at odds with two basic foundations of mindfulness practice -- that all actions have consequences (interdependence) and that everything changes (impermanence). But, if you adopt a worldview that is informed by an understanding of interdependence and impermanence, your perspective shifts. Here's what you realize: the opposite is true and absolutely every moment matters.
Remember the slogan of the Japanese baseball team - Focus on this play, this moment? Look at it like this: each play represents the juncture of present-moment awareness (what's happening now), with wisdom gleaned the hard way (from past games and training), and the players' determination to put all of their effort into this single moment hoping to win the game. They're hoping for the win -- they've worked hard for it - but not so busy chasing after a goal that they miss out on the invigorating experience of playing the game.
For more about mindful awareness for children and families visit Mindful Mom and join the InnerKids online community.
Follow Susan Kaiser Greenland on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sKAISERg
