Little Moments & Being Present

I was talking to a very special friend this week and he reminded of the importance of the little moments and that "those are the ones that count!" Dan Millman wrote that "Life is a series of moments. The quality of attention and action that we bring to each moment determines the quality of our lives." I'm constantly working on being more mindful and intentional. Peace Corps is sure an interesting and wonderfully good place to be working on this. "Living in the moment" is a constant journey. Some moments I think I know what I'm doing and feeling like progress is being made in that area and sometimes I feel like I'm just floating, not really paying attention to what is going on in front of me. And what is going on in front of me is uniquely cool and sometimes I forget that. Instead I'm thinking about what comes next (in the next moment, month or year), what I will say to respond to the person in front of me when they finish talking. Not being mindful. Not enjoying the now. Not at all. I don't want to be like that anymore. I don't know if it's a renewed sense of excitement being back here, the fact that I meditated and did yoga every day this week or what, but man, my week was filled with some amazing experiences. I giggled with kids and jump-roped beneath a mango tree, talked with a co-teacher about how we teach to best help students learn, drank tea and skyped, climbed a tree and listened to the wind, had a wonderful conversation with a local principal about the proper way to wear a ta'ovala (grass mat), taught some Tongans some new yoga poses (eagle pose is a tricky one) and watched as one of my students read an entire book in English for the very first time.