A wise guy I know has said to me on several occasions a parent doesn’t deserve respect simply because they are parents, that was their choice. It’s what they have done since then that counts.

I wasn’t raised with that understanding of the relationship between parents and children and the first time I heard it, I had to choke back a knee-jerk argument. Over the years I’ve thought about it a lot and I’ve come to agree.

This morning I looked at that statement on a very broad scale, something struck me and I thought I’d share this ongoing lesson I’m uncovering:

We’re surprised, disappointed, frustrated and alarmed with the lack of respect that we, as a culture have for our elders.

We’re surprised, disappointed, frustrated and alarmed with the lack of respect that we, as a culture have for our children.

Curiously, we are also surprised, disappointed, frustrated and alarmed with the lack of respect that we, as a culture have for the human body we live in.

Anybody see a common denominator here?

How about productivity?

If you can’t make money, what good are you – where is your usefulness?

If it requires sacrificing health, comfort and pleasure of your body – too bad – do it anyway. You can rest and get healthy when you retire. Right?

We don’t actually have a respect for human life. We have a respect for human usefulness; human productivity.

What are the messages? Forever be  25. It’s all down hill from there. And it was all up hill to get there.

Seriously? That’s it? We get nearly 100 years and all we want to keep is a year of it?

Ok, so it’s my soapbox for the week. What’s this got to do with Awareness? Sensation? Movement?

Everything.

Get into your body and live in it, moment by moment.

It is not sacrifice that makes us virtuous. Sacrifice only makes us resentful, bitter and unwell.

It is authentic generosity that makes us “virtuous”, joyful and well.

Wish for nothing else but this very moment. Everything else is smoke.

If there is pain in this moment, feel it, it won’t last long. Then do something to change it.

Don’t ever push emotions away. They are guides. They are a communication. They are teachers. They teach us about ourselves. You don’t have to act on them (or perhaps that is what you need to do), but shutting them out, suppressing your ability to feel them and learn from them is unwise.

There are no negative or positive emotions!

(Was the exclamation point overkill???)

We are not possessed by emotions, they exist for our use – to tell us about ourselves.

If you don’t like the way you’re feeling, give it about 7 minutes (that means not dwelling, not talking to yourself about how bad you feel and how angry you are or how hurt you are) and you’ll be feeling something else.

Be who, what and where you are. Don’t pretend. Except as a result of chemical imbalance, we are not anything all the time.

We are not angry all the time.

We are not happy all the time.

We are not grateful all the time.

We are not insecure all the time.

Feel it, then let it pass. Hanging onto it longer than it is intended to last (approximately 7 minutes!) turns something authentic and true into potential misery; into something forced and fake.

Change your life sound like too big a task? Then change your moment. How difficult is it to change the moment?

What sensation do you feel right now in your body? Is it pleasure? If not, do something different until it comes closer to pleasure.

Being Present in it may be all there is to changing your moment – that change your life.

Don’t let it get away.