In the Present Moment Together
Last night’s Blogger meetup was perfect! For Kristin it was like the excitement of going on a first date. For the rest of us, it was like the second date with someone we already knew we liked and wanted to see again. On my drive home after dropping AlwaysWrite off, I found myself trying to process the many things we had talked about during the course of the evening. I couldn’t yet put it all together.
I woke up halfway – you know that dreamy sort of semi-conscious state – in the middle of the night with exactly what I wanted to say about the evening. I was just too tired to get up and write it, so it remained as unedited snippets in my head as I had a very short night’s sleep.
I found myself comparing the evening with six remarkable women to the evening I typically spend in silent meditation on Wednesday nights. Both involved being entirely in the present moment – the whole premise of mindful meditation. For the Blogger women, past (especially pre-Blogging past) was hardly mentioned. It was all about what is going on right now. We touched lightly on the future, but the present was the real topic of conversation. Whereas silent meditation involves the slowing down of the mind and the total absence of words, there was hardly a moment without words last night – but they were words that were shared equally with no interruptions, no grand-standing, seamless breaks as new speakers had something to say. By the end of the evening I found my mind and my heart full to overflowing as the voices of my 6 friends still sounded in my head.
One technique we use at the beginning of silent meditation is an introduction including our name and one or two words (ONLY) to describe how we feel in the present moment. I found myself coming up with those words to describe each of the participants last night:
Playfulindc -- theatrically dramatic
Kristin -- wholesomely athletic
Reya -- FOOLishly expectant
Barbara -- dread-FULL-y happy
Jamy -- enthusiastically grateful
Velvet -- beautifully selective
AlwaysWrite -- painfully honest
Cube -- regrettably absent
Instead of opening and closing with the meditation bell, we clinked wine glasses and began to think about our next gathering. We will certainly read each others posts with a renewed sense of connectedness. As Reya recently put it so well, we are all so much more, so much less than our Blogs can ever say, but we are truly formidable as a group in the present moment!
I woke up halfway – you know that dreamy sort of semi-conscious state – in the middle of the night with exactly what I wanted to say about the evening. I was just too tired to get up and write it, so it remained as unedited snippets in my head as I had a very short night’s sleep.
I found myself comparing the evening with six remarkable women to the evening I typically spend in silent meditation on Wednesday nights. Both involved being entirely in the present moment – the whole premise of mindful meditation. For the Blogger women, past (especially pre-Blogging past) was hardly mentioned. It was all about what is going on right now. We touched lightly on the future, but the present was the real topic of conversation. Whereas silent meditation involves the slowing down of the mind and the total absence of words, there was hardly a moment without words last night – but they were words that were shared equally with no interruptions, no grand-standing, seamless breaks as new speakers had something to say. By the end of the evening I found my mind and my heart full to overflowing as the voices of my 6 friends still sounded in my head.
One technique we use at the beginning of silent meditation is an introduction including our name and one or two words (ONLY) to describe how we feel in the present moment. I found myself coming up with those words to describe each of the participants last night:
Playfulindc -- theatrically dramatic
Kristin -- wholesomely athletic
Reya -- FOOLishly expectant
Barbara -- dread-FULL-y happy
Jamy -- enthusiastically grateful
Velvet -- beautifully selective
AlwaysWrite -- painfully honest
Cube -- regrettably absent
Instead of opening and closing with the meditation bell, we clinked wine glasses and began to think about our next gathering. We will certainly read each others posts with a renewed sense of connectedness. As Reya recently put it so well, we are all so much more, so much less than our Blogs can ever say, but we are truly formidable as a group in the present moment!
posted by Barbara at 10:07 AM
8 Comments:
It was definitely a great meetup! Quieter and much easier to talk to each other.
Aww look at you guys - how cute! :)
I felt very safe during dinner, if that makes any sense, and very soothed when I came home. Probably had something to do with the comfy, oversized furniture in the restaurant, but mostly it was the company :)
Cube was out walking in her city, absorbing it's rhythms. Also seeing a movie she didn't enjoy very much.
I like the 'no boys allowed' theme.
Barbara how cool to think of it as a blogger meditation group, meditating with lots of words on the power of NOW.
We are all of us a part of this NOW, whether we were there or elsewhere.
What I liked about dinner is how a couple of us kept switching places at the table so we could get at least a word in with everyone. Oh yeah, I guess that was you and me, Barbara, yes? The musical chairs confused the waiter, a rather Neanderthal kind of guy, but it was fun to mix it up.
I'd love to sit down again with any of you - including anyone reading this who wasn't at dinner last night. I like bloggers.
I will take those words as a compliment...although, next time, I may try to channel someone else's energy to see how that goes.
:)
It was a powerful night, and I, too, felt soothed by it. Blogging is community to me, and to be able to sit near such wonderful women made me feel less alone.
I will be thinking about your recovery!
It was a great night and I felt lucky to be there.
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