Being Here Fully

Being Here Fully

After my visit home to Long Island this past weekend, I have been reminded of the simple joys of spending time with family and friends.  Connecting in a way that is much more gratifying than any electronic form of communication will lend itself to.  To be completely engaged without having to look at a computer screen, phone, nook, ipod, etc.  It seems like such a simple concept, to spend face to face time with one another and not virtual time, but one we need to truly value much more frequently.  

It is so refreshing to be in conversation with friends and family and not having a single person look down at their phone, even just for a brief period of time.  How often do you see groups of friends or a family all sitting together physically, but not engaged presently with one another because half/all of the group is glancing at their phones?  More often than not this is what you see.  We all do it, and I am guilty as well, but I am setting an intention to connect and communicate in person.  This is what it means to be fully present.  You cannot be a fully present person if your body is in one place but your mind/attention is in another.  Be Here Now.

The conversations and experiences I had this weekend from my best friends wedding to fathers day have been so rich and memorable because of the quality of everyone's attention of just being with each other.  My family and I were watching home videos from the mid 90's and noticed how much laughter and fun we had without pre cell phone/ipod.  Definitely nice for convenience (ie mom, where are you on the ski mountain because we cant find you on the trail), however when it comes to just lounging around, eating a meal, etc we were simple enjoying each other's company with no cell phone to pull our attention away from what we were doing in that moment. 

So my friends, my message to you is to be engaged with the friends and family around you when you can.  Yes, its fun to check facebook and look at that ridiculously cute puppy video on youtube, but when you are with those that you value, give them your complete presence.  As the song says, "Love the one your with!"  

Namaste and thank you for being here fully!

Julie