Photo of Rev. Dr. Thandeka by Merrel Booker
I was lucky enough a couple of months ago to hear the Rev. Dr. Thandeka preach a sermon at my home church, the First Parish in Cambridge, Unitarian Universalist. I heard he speak before at the UUA General Assembly, and also read her readings, so I looked forward to what I knew would be a great sermon.
The main thrust of her talk was about being present in the moment to take advantage of what life if presenting to you know as a gift. She kept up the common theme of breathing and paying attention to your breathe. As she stated, we are continually “inspired” and filled with the spirit of life with every breath we intake.
She started by relating a story of her first trip going in a roller coaster with her brother when she was a little girl. Her first time, she was scared and screaming and completely in the the moment of terror. Because she knew that her brother would remember this and taunt her for the rest if her life, her went on again and was stoic for the entire ride. She was not in the moment.
I’ve recently taken some workshops on the concepts on Tantra, and have been really trying to be more present in my own life. I have discovered about myself that I am usually more comfortable thinking about done other space and time, even if it’s not as pleasant as the place and time I’m in now! That was a revolution to me.
Rev. Thandeka spoke to being in the present moment and breathing in it’s fullness at every moment, and if we’re being too being too rigid and in our minds and not our bodies, we don’t experience life. There is Spirit in each and every breath and we are delaying life when we don’t experience it as it is, but fight in our mind what we think it should be.
In the language of type theory, and the MBTI, in particular, there is a dichotomy of judgers and perceivers. Judgers like to have everything scheduled and feel comfortable when items are crossed off the to do list. Perceivers are more open and flexible and like to go with the flow. I’m definitely a judger, but I’ve been working on being more flexible and in the moment. I’m not great at it, but that’s what a practice, spiritual or otherwise, is about.
I leave you with some of Rev. Thandeka’s thoughts:
- “We are the inspiration, or breathing in, of God.”
- “Each breath is our spirit of life.”
- “We are re-inspired every time we breathe.”
So, how do you stay in the moment and become re-inspired?