5 February 2016

An emergent world invites us to use our most human of all capacities, our consciousness.  It asks us to be alert in the moment for what is unfolding.  What is happening at this moment? What can we do because of what we just learned?  An emergent world welcomes us in as conscious participants and surprises us with discovery.  ~Margaret Wheatley

Showing up into any given moment can require being brave.  I often feel awkward about how to be authentic in a situation or uncertain about  how best to add to.  Everything I can think of contributing seems silly or unpromising or unexpected.  It feels easier to wallflower, avoiding the risk of offering the wrong thing or looking ridiculous.  Safer by far to stay small, to listen to the voice in my head that asks, ‘who the heck do you think you are anyway?’

But, humans long for connection.  I long for connection.  And the only way I connect meaningfully is to be present and to venture adding myself.

Yes, I will say and do silly and unproductive things.  It’s a human given.  It’s getting easier to laugh at my mistakes and appreciate that they are indelibly a part of living.

Accepting this moment and engaging with its contents is courageous and honest.  Saying yes to this moment lays it open, reveals its possibilities, enriches its depth.

The more clearly I throw open the door to this moment, to what is embedded within it, to the feelings that emerge, the ideas I grasp, the scents that drift through it, the more alive and participatory I feel.

We live our lives in moments.  Tending moments, showing up with a yes…and…, is claiming and tending life itself.