Momentary Attendance: 150 days of welcoming (not avoiding or achieving) my life

For some time now, I’ve been aware of my tendency to get through my days as though they’re something to achieve. Part of the nature of achievement is being on the other side of something. I’ve taken the test with a passing grade. I’m through with the book release party. I’m done with the monthly budget.

This way of engaging with my life (and the things I’ve got to do each day) affects how I show up in the moment. In short, I’m not really here sometimes. (Because I want to be over there—on the other side of whatever’s in front me.)

I’ve noticed the kind of person I am becoming, and I don’t like what I see. I’m hurried, avoidant of nearly anything that might mess with my ability to keep on moving. I’m irritable at requests that would take me off my own pre-determined track (my kids have a knack for this).

The other day, I got an idea that felt more like an invitation to a journey to take rather than something to achieve.

What’s the project?

• Every day for the next year, I am going to look out for a single moment in my day that’s beckoning me in, answering its call by attending to it with my whole self.

• I’ll then write 100-300 words about what happened, posting three times a week.

I want to welcome my life as it is, not as I wish for it to be. I want to live in it, rather than use it for my own sense of accomplishment. What will happen if I am present, even for just one moment of each day? Let’s see.

This is…

Momentary Attendance: 150 days of welcoming (not avoiding or achieving) my life