Appreciating Each Moment

We tend to live our life as though it will go on forever, neither appreciating what we have or aware of the preciousness of each passing moment. But we can change this attitude at any time. So it's not that we deliberately set out to ignore each passing moment, or to not have a sense of appreciation or gratefulness for it. It's just so we get so caught up in our thinking, so caught up in the world around us that we miss it. But it doesn't have to be this way. And by training the mind in meditation, in mindfulness, we start to become more aware of the present moment. In becoming more aware of this moment right now, we start to feel a sense of gratitude, appreciation. We start to see how fleeting it is. And so there's that connection with what's going on in the world right now in this moment. So just taking a moment to get comfortable, eyes open, a nice, soft focus. And when you're ready, just starting with a big, deep breath breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. And with the out-breath, just gently closing the eyes. In closing the eyes, just becoming more aware of different senses, feeling the weight of the body pressing down and the contact between the body and the seat or the floor beneath you, bringing* the weight of the hands and the arms just resting on the legs or in your lap. And just taking a moment to notice the different sounds around you, just allowing the sounds to come and go. And as you sit there, inevitably the mind will wander, but just bringing the attention back to the body. And just starting to notice how the body feels right now, and more particularly, how the breath in the body feels, so that rising and falling sensation. Noticing where in the body you feel that movement. And every time the mind wanders off, realizing it's wandered. Just coming back to that movement of the breath. And then slowly becoming more aware, again, of the body, that feeling of contact of weight. Becoming more aware of the space around you, the sounds, smells, just taking a moment. And then when you feel ready, just gently opening the eyes again....