It was a spiritual moment. Not a religious activity but just a quiet moment on Easter. A moment to just enjoy. I bought a new reading chair with my tax refund. Last night Iwas able to spend a little time swallowed up by the chair with a book. One lamp on behind me. Some new soft yellow roses sitting on the stand beside. My cat, who had now forgiven me for trimming his monstrous claws earlier, stretched out on my lap. And in the quiet of the evening I could just enjoy the moment. I could turn my mind off to what has happened and the yet to come. I could just be. And that is sometimes the hardest thing for me to do.

I've experienced more of these moments lately. It seems in my pursuit to be healthier and shred some of the unnecessary weight, I've gained an ability to focus on the small moments of life. My time at the the gym focusing on what my body is doing has helped me focus in other areas mentally. I've learned the importance of mind over matter. Saturday it was a 2 hour bike ride where I could just think without disctractions of TV or music. But I didn't feel like my thoughts had to overwhelm the experience. For times, I just rode. I didn't need to think. More moments of just being. Something I've been striving to do for a long time. And since my college pastor's last sermon more than two years ago--his words of enjoying those small moments of life...before his sudden death--I've sought more ways of doing this. In not thinking about doing it and just taking the moments as they've come, I'm finally grasping the value of living in the here and now. I can't turn of who I am in thinking about my future or my past--there is value to both. But i don't want to miss the present anymore.