Climbing the Mountain

Do you remember the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle?  There’s a movie version of it that my two year old, Maggie, loves to watch and its paired with a couple of other stories by the author including one of our favorites, Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me.  In it, a father brings the moon down to his daughter by climbing up a mountain to reach it.  Maggie is now completely fascinated with the moon.  She climbs up the steps in our backyard, reaches out her arms to the sky, and jumps up and down saying  “I can’t reach it!  Too far away!”  

I sometimes feel like we are all living our lives like this.  We are constantly climbing one mountain or another trying to reach something bigger and better than what we have right now.  There’s nothing wrong with having big dreams and goals.  There is something wrong with letting those goals remove you from the present.  Hard work, self-discipline, and goal setting are all great attributes and things that we have to do in our everyday life.  But we also have to live, now.  I firmly believe that life will happen and it will happen exactly as it is supposed to.   This is why we all have nothing to worry about.  Deal with situations when they happen and be mindful of the moment you have right now.   I’ve sometimes watched in frustration, as my daughter would stop to pick a dandelion, splash in a puddle, or pick up pieces of gravel and roll them around in her hand.  Let’s go, let’s go, I’d think, quit playing with everything you walk by.  I caught myself thinking this very thought just a few days ago while walking Maggie home from daycare.  I suddenly became aware of just how much I have to learn from her.  

The beauty of the innocent mind of child is a phrase I’ve heard before but it became pointedly relevant in my own life as I watched Maggie take in every little smell, sound, and texture in the short two-block walk home.  A child is such a mindful creature, full of curiosity, excitement, and wonder.  Each day now, I make it my intention to invite some of that child-mind back into myself.   Enjoy the moment you’re in.  It’s all you have.