Audience Pt 2

How present do you want to be in your life?

Do you want to walk through experiences half-heartedly? How much time do you take to take in life? Think of your favorite experiences. What makes them so memorable and powerful? I imagine a lot of it has to do with how present you were. Were you in a flow-like state, where time was seemingly suspended? Perhaps you can bring up smells, sounds, images instantly, just thinking about that moment.

Here’s the thing.

Those moments aren’t unique, in and of themselves.

You made it unique. You brought attention to it that you haven’t given to other moments in your life.

Yes, some moments contain an extra magic. Something intrinsic that resonates with your soul on a deeper level.

Most moments, though, can be whatever we want them to be. We can tap into a flow-like state by the presence and attention we give to any particular experience.

So, why not have a day filled with beautiful moments? The alternative is a day of drudgery and boredom, of mundanity.

Right now, I sit in this coffee shop, the odor of coffee hanging in the air like clouds. Memories of countless gigs, and countless hours in cafes are dancing with my mind. I see smiles and seriousness. Conversations and folks lost in their phones. Sitting by the window, I watch the viny green plants in the outdoor planter sway with the wind. Water, after being dumped into the planter, made it’s way across the cement, following water’s gravitational compass, creating this intriguing sculpture, speckled with leaf mosaic. Art is everywhere! Life, big and small, bustles and sits. It’s wonderous. How many stories? How much love? is sitting here? Is walking by?

What if I bring this to my experience as an audience? Can I tap into my heart when my mind speaks tones of indifference, or worse yet, callousness? Can I still show up with my heart aloud and alive? Because that’s my choice. My life. My limited breath. And I get to experience all this, anyway! A piece of dust, standing on a piece of dust, in a dusty corner of a vast existence - who is to be bored, and not utterly floored in wonder? Wrapped thoroughly in magic?

Sipping this sweet chai from a thick blue mug, I have to ask myself, “If music, art, and magic are in every moment, what is it costing me to play small, to not engage, to not explore some depth of presence and joy?”

How many moments, breaths, days, months, go by without my acknowledgement? This experience of life, as Zach, isn’t forever. It is so fleeting, so what am I waiting for? I don’t need to go out and scale the mountains in whose shadow I currently sit. I could, but there is as much wonder in this moment in this coffeeshop. I can learn and grow as much, if I want.

Open up.

More.

Go beyond, as the heart sutra says. And keep going beyond. Open more. There is always an opportunity to open more.

Are we ready to open?

Are we willing to let go of the burden of life lived with a skeleton crew of attention?

Or can we inhale and exhale the magic and beauty that is life, all around us?

I’m ready to step in. Call me out, remind me when i forget or allow the thoughts of society to stifle my willingness to play with wonder of life.

Here we go.