Instant Renewal

“It is as it is” - my latest mantra - is a phrase I heard and absorbed on a Sunday morning some months ago when I woke up at 5 AM and something inside me pushed me get up, turn one the radio and listen to “Humankind,” a weekly program on National Public Radio, with which I was familiar.
I resisted for a few minutes, but the “something” in me kept telling me to move, so I reluctantly pushed myself out of bed, went into the living room and turned on the radio. I was instantly glad that I had forced myself to get up and sorry I had not done so sooner. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the renowned Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, was discussing a powerful, yet simple, stress-relieving meditative technique he calls “mind-fullness.” The goal of this practice is to calm down and focus only on the present moment — lifting the enormous burden of worry about either the past or the future.
Dr. Kabat-Zinn’s meditation, which emphasizes paying attention to the simple act of breathing, is called “Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction” (MBSR). He says that becoming friendly with one’s own breathing, paying attention to the movement in our belly, and learning to ride on the waves of our breath moving in and out of the belly, has a calming effect. At the same time that we’re cultivating calmness, we’re also refining another powerful tool, mindfulness, or a deep seeing into the reality unfolding moment by moment. We’re actually teaching ourselves how to calm down and get out of our own way. It’s like a natural tranquilizer and instant renewal.
According to Dr. Kabat-Zinn, this process is also an “affectionate attention”- being present to the moment and not knowing how things are going to unfold, even as we plan for the future. “It is as it is.” We are open to not knowing, we are also letting go of our need to know. It doesn’t deny our need for action; it simply allows us to approach the action and the future differently. We don’t fight what we can’t control; nevertheless we act.
“It is as it is” - a powerful affirmation to help us live in the NOW and generate in us an instant renewal, acceptance, and full engagement with the present moment, which immediately opens us to the abundance of our future.
“It is as it is.” And so it goes. I continue with my mantra, hopefully growing more peaceful and accepting day by day.