Loving the moment doesn't mean we have to like

This September marks the beginning of my 30th year on the spiritual pathway. As I pause and reflect back upon my journey, I realize that those 30 years represent more than half my life. It hardly seems possible to me, but it is true.

Upon even deeper pondering, I've found myself tracing my progress back through the years. The awareness I've had was that years are nothing more than a collection of months, which are simply an accumulation of days, which of course are containers for hours, which are placeholders for minutes, which ultimately boil down to seconds.

There is no need to go into the quantum physics of nanoseconds (a nanosecond is onebillionth of a second) because I trust you get my point: Every past moment is connected to the current moment, which likewise is connected to the next moment.

In short, life is a continuum of now moments. Reviewing 30 years of my "now" moments was a powerful experience.

As I traced my journey that has brought me to this present moment I reconnected with some past moments that were agonizingly unpleasant and, fortunately, more than a few onceinalifetime stellar moments that were worth experiencing again.

However, it's the painful moments I want to emphasize. Not simply because they were painful and "ain't that a shame," but because they were purposefully powerful as well. It's important to remember that one moment connects our lives to the next and so on, and if we dial out on the painful moments (or dark times), we also miss a portion of the journey that leads us to wholeness.

We can't go unconscious part of the time and expect to arrive at the end of our journey in one "peace." We need the collective whole of our experiences to obtain wholeness, and it is through our sense of wholeness that we achieve the peace that passes all understanding.

Wholeness comes as a reality when we can embrace all of who we are and what the moment brings and, perhaps more importantly, all of who we are not and what the moment doesn't bring. Every day of our lives contains reminders of both.

This is why I treasure the quote by Corita Kent at the top of this missive. It is a reminder of how absolutely crucial it is to stay connected to the moment irrespective of what it looks like and, yes, even in spite of how it may feel.

However, staying connected to the moment and liking what is contained within that moment may be two different things. We can and should love every moment because each one is another precious gift of life- but that doesn't mean we necessarily have to enjoy the experience the moment brings.

In other words, we don't always have to like "what is" in any given moment in order to love the moment. As odd as it sounds, we can love something without liking it. It's our acceptance of and loving "what is" that becomes the bridge that will help us cross into the next moment.

If this day holds for you any dark moments, I encourage you to stay engaged in life, trusting that, as certain as day follows night and night follows day, contained in the moment at hand are the seeds of something beautiful. Remember, seeds do indeed need a bit of darkness in which to grow. I know that in this sacred moment something profoundly meaningful is growing in the garden of your life. Stay connected and you'll have an amazing life, one moment at a time.

Life is blessed, and so are you.

Dennis Merritt Jones is the spiritual director for OneSpirit Center for Conscious Living in Simi Valley. Visit www.OneSpirit.org.