I love the word “savor,” and I have been experiencing it all week. Too many times in my life, I moved too quickly and did not notice all for which I can be grateful. It’s easy to do this in a the rapidly changing world that seems so uncertain right now. There is a great fear and doubt that is present concerning our future, looming like a saber tooth tiger ready to grasp us in its jaws. Many times, we find ourselves running for cover. We have the ability to move through this, perhaps not with ease and grace, but we practice, practice, practice.

In the Science of Mind and Spirit, we are taught to stay present, to practice mindfulness. When I become worried about the future, I stop and remember where I am. I get in touch with my senses and the present moment. I ask, “Am I okay right now?” The answer is always, yes.

Why is it so difficult to stay present? We can each answer this question for ourselves; but for me, it’s all about futurizing or obsessing about the past. We must get the message: There is only the present moment. The present moment is free of past and future. If I can savor the present moment, I have found that I am open to inspiration and guidance. My mind isn’t bogged down by problems I can’t possibly solve: problems that are either passed solving, so far in the future that I can’t possibly know where I will be at that time.

Savoring the moment comes to me right now as the answer to many of the issues set before us. To savor means: “to taste something and enjoy it completely.” Even when it is distasteful, there is a gift.

I used to know a person named Lady B. When we went to lunch, she would eat so slowly. Not because she was talking a lot but because she was savoring each bite. How long has it been since we have savored each moment, no matter what that moment is.

There is a quote from the movie American Beauty, that the major character, Lester, speaks at the end when he is transcending. It goes like this, “I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me, but it’s hard to stay mad when there is so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I am seeing it all at once, and it is too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that is about to burst. And then I remember to relax. And stop trying to hold on to it. And then it flows through me like rain. And I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every moment of my stupid little life. You have no idea what I’m talking about do you? But don’t worry you will someday.”

Lester had a larger perspective because he was out of his body. I don’t think we have to wait for that. There are tools and practices we can use. Present awareness techniques are all around us, but we have to use them. It’s not enough to just read about them.

I learned an exercise from Dr. Petra Weldes from CSL Dallas. She merely practiced seeing God in everything – EVERYTHING. She would look out into the world at something – from a flower to a hurricane to a person to the ocean. She just said God to whatever was presented to her sight. I have been working this exercise. It is like taking an inventory of all of God in the world. It is quite overwhelming and transcending. The closest I can come to describing it is to say it is like that feeling of gratitude not for things, but merely because we are here, alive and experiencing.

I believe we will never release the world’s problems until we can fully live every moment of the present moment and savor it. When we stop labeling bad and good and move through life releasing what stands in the way of love, but not without allowing ourselves to feel it first, to see it as part of the whole big picture, then we will have a fully savoring present moment life. Even the distasteful moments sometimes need to be felt before we can let them go.

Life is a great experiment of proving that Spiritual Thought Force is greater than material resistance. A modern day spiritual coach Bentinho wrote something like this, “Do you like what you see in front of you, while at the same time pretending you did not create it?”

Yes, when we accept every moment as ours, fully embracing it instead of running from it, and then moving our awareness into the nonphysical to change our perspective of it, we will truly be savoring each moment.

More to come on this.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita Andriello-Feren

Spiritual Director, CSL Kaua`i and Spiritual Coach