Last week, I watched Piers Morgan’s interview with Oprah on CNN.One of the most engaging, memorable sound bites was when Oprah talked about living in the moment. She talked about being able to thoroughly enjoy the dialogue with Morgan because she was focused specifically on life in that particular moment; not about the past and not about the future. Oprah identified living in the moment as one of her greatest life achievements.
I have been thinking about this portion of the interview for more than a week. Living in the moment is an ability to aspire to. But, is this a reality anyone can really achieve? Can anyone truly filter out — completely — all past reflections and forward thinking while doing something else at any given moment, consistently?
As I write this post, I am living in the moment; focused on the task at hand. I am also thinking about near-future events. My daughter has religious education after school. I have to pick her up from school in 45 minutes, which means I am watching the clock and preparing to wake my son from his nap.
But, I believe Oprah’s challenge was to savor each living moment we have; because our past is just that; and the future is an unknown. Anything could happen. The irony of my reflections is that a girlfriend and I discussed this very issue on a night out with our husbands a couple Saturdays ago. We attended a Pistons’ game and were nicely surprised to witness a win against the Sacramento Kings. As we drove home from Auburn Hills, the roads were slushy and snow flurried across the windshield. It was a cold, dark night. All of us expressed how anxious we were for spring. My girlfriend agreed, but noted we were wishing our lives away. By thinking forward to March and April we were not allowing ourselves to truly enjoy what we had.
She was so right. The fun, cozy night began with a delicious Mexican meal at Miguel's Catina in Rochester, Mich. Our good times continued with coffee at Caribou and then the Pistons’ game with fantastic seats in Section 102, Row E complements of a charitable organization I made a donation to in November. The four of us had it all; and we still do even in arctic-like Shelby Township, Mich.
