Be Here Now

Be Here Now

“Be here now. This is the only place you need to be. And from this place all things are possible.”

Baron Baptiste

Zuri Isn’t Here

Zuri has been reading my “Yoga Notes” almost every night. She likes the notes, quotes, and funny figure drawings of yoga poses. She thinks one day she would like to take a yoga class.

She keeps thinking of one of the quotes she read, “Be here now. This is the only place you need to be. And from this place all things are possible.”

Zuri is never really here. She is always in her head. She worries so much about tomorrow or is so sad about yesterday. That is what she does. The result, she is never here.

The future is terrifying. She is always waiting to hear whether or not something has or has not happened to her brother, Eric. Every night she worries that when she gets up her mom will be lying on the couch, again, with a wine glass and an empty bottle right next to her on the coffee table. She worries she’ll have to wake her mom for work and her mom will yell at her. She worries that she will be late for school because she’s trying to get her little brother, Rashan, ready for school. She worries.

The past is not much better, if you look at the dark places, if you remember. Zuri remembers. She remembers all of the time. Her dad left them after Rashan was born. That is when her mom took a turn for the worst. Lucky for Rashan Zuri was there. Some days her mom didn’t get out of bed at all and when she did it was to run to the liquor store. Zuri made things look okay for everyone. She held all of it together. Eric was just angry. That is when he started struggling too.

So, it was Zuri.

It’s been a few years. Rashan is five and her mom is back to work. Zuri’s mom only drinks at night now and sometimes Zuri can pour out her wine without her mom noticing. When you compare right now to her past and to the future, things are okay. The hard part is the worrying and the remembering. She get’s so in her head that sometimes when people talk to her, she doesn’t respond, “What? Sorry? What?” She is never really here.

I see her as she walks into school, into the hallway, into her homeroom. The announcements start. Students talk and Zuri stares ahead, lost in her head, lost in the future and the past. She is not there.  

Zuri recalls the quote, “Be here now. This is the only place you need to be. And from this place all things are possible.” She wants to be here. She wants to be here now. She has a sense that if she could be here, all things really could be possible.

Zuri sets her mind to try.

The Process

We only have this moment. This moment right now. Essentially, there is no past. The past is the sum of our recollections of this moment. If we aren't here, really here, the past is degraded, our memories are just fuzzy pictures taken from an out-of focus camera. The math works this way, if you are not here now, there is no past. Likewise, the future depends on our presence. If you are not here, really here, there is nothing for the future to stand on. It’s like trying to stand on a pile of dry sand. You slide. There is nothing firm, no support for your dreams.

That is that. It all, ALL OF IT, counts on right now. The past, the future, all of it.

Zuri better get it. She’s 13. There are so many memories to be made and so much potential for her future. I want it all for her. Beautiful rich memories and a bright future grounded on a firm base. Yes, I do. I want it all for her. And you know what else? I want it for you. While we are at it, I want it for me.

So how about all of us take a deep breath, stand firmly in our feet, our own two grounded feet, and be here now. And from this place, right here, NOW, all things are possible.

Namaste,

Catherine

For an overview of the people in Zuri's life fo here:

http://theyogabag.blogspot.com/p/zuris-people-overview-of-poeple-is.html