Savour the Moment
"Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Savour the moment, whether you are on the train, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you." - 'Five Ways to Wellbeing' from New Economics Foundation (NEF)
(‘Five Ways to Well-being’ are a set of evidence-based actions which promote people’s wellbeing. These activities are simple things individuals can do in their everyday lives.They are: Connect; Be Active; Take Notice; Keep Learning; and Give.)
Martin Seligman suggests that learning to ‘savour’ moments can be a key to significantly improving happiness. Often we have good things happen and don’t pay much attention. Take some time to savour something good that happens. Notice how you respond in your body and what you liked best about it. How did you feel? Stay in the moment with it, rather than jump off on other thoughts.
“Call to mind a time when you were so present to the moment, to the sheer grace of things, maybe watching a child giggle with delight or your dog romp playfully in a field. And then perhaps, the thoughts broke in. The ones which seem to wield only criticism and dissatisfaction. Maybe you remember the items still languishing on your “to do” list back at home and you felt an anxious dread. Contemplative practice cultivates our awareness of this pattern, so that we might be able to change it. So that when moments come to visit us, we find ourselves savoring and basking in wonder rather than reaching for what is next.”
~ Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, is the online Abbess at ‘Abbey of the Arts’ a virtual monastery and community for contemplative practice and creative expression. She is the author of several books on art and monasticism, including Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice (Ave Maria Press).
‘ “Knowing” is more than just head knowing. It can be a deep soul and body knowing that transforms how you live in this world. …take time to recognise the presence of the Holy in your everyday life …contemplate and savour those moments. These graced moments can transform you, body, soul, mind and spirit. By reflecting on them again and again you realise the presence of God in your daily life and receive guidance to become wholly yourself, truly alive.”
~ Stephen Murphy , spiritual director.
“Living each day and each moment fully is probably the nearest we humans can come to approaching that state of wonder and awe called spirituality, – not letting springtime pass without noticing the greening of the earth, the blossoming of flowers, the return of singing birds; not letting the day end without noticing the sunset or the moon rise or the glory of the stars; not missing the little graces in the people around us, such as kindness, generosity, courtesy, smiles, the sharing of their interests and experiences. - Poetry, more than anything, inspires me to savour the moment, to feel more deeply the significance and power of common things."
~ Goldwin Emerson in ‘Variations on Spirituality ‘ London Free Press Aug 7, 2010
Without belittling the validity of finding rational arguments for questions such as ‘Does God exist?’, Ignatian spirituality invites for a deeper exploration of the relationship with God and indeed with the whole of life. The emphasis of Ignatian spirituality on the awareness of God’s presence in the everyday incidents -‘Godincidents’-opens up a window onto how God ‘intervenes’ in one’s life history. It also invites one to relate to the world in a different manner: not one which demands scientific proof but that certain ‘knowing’ which is intuitive, mystical and stems out of the spiritual reality.
~ Christine Rossi in ‘Ignatius Challenges young People’ , Review of Ignatian Spirituality - XXXIX, 1/2008
"Fortunately, our everyday affairs have the inherent capacity to reveal the sacred. Yet, to discover God's immanent presence and rule, we must move beyond merely going through the motions of daily life. Approaching life mechanically and mindlessly creates a dullness of heart that interferes with our spiritual perception and discernment. Our challenge is to pay reverent attention to daily life with the full assurance that God will meet us in the ordinary and extraordinary. Our common, routine activities and situations can then become "sacraments" that reveal the mystery of God and His kingdom. Over time, as we gain in our ability to find God in the pleasures and problems of everyday life—and not simply in signs, wonders and spiritual experiences—we can gain a deep love and respect for God, creation and our own existence.”
Dr. Charles Metteer in ‘Recognizing God's Presence in Your Everyday Life’
..."Spirituality is seeded, germinates, sprouts, and blossoms in the mundane. It is to be found and nurtured in the smallest of daily activities. The spirituality that feeds the soul and ultimately heals our psychological wounds may be found in those sacred objects that dress themselves in the accoutrements of the ordinary."
Thomas Moore in ’Care of the Soul'
“A waiting person is a patient person.
The word “patience” means the willingness to stay where we are
and live the situation out to the full
in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.
Impatient people are always expecting the real thing to happen somewhere else and therefore want to go elsewhere.
The moment is empty.
But patient people dare to stay where they are.
Patient living means to live actively in the present and wait there.
Waiting, then, is not passive. It involves nurturing the moment,
as a mother nurtures the child that is growing in her womb.”
Henri J. M. Nouwen in ’ Eternal Seasons’, p. 38