Every moment is new
Every moment is new
Open-mindedness and staying in touch with the present always brings a new experience
Phra Paisal Visalo
The river stream that runs past us is never the same stream. The candle that is alight and burning is not the same candle. Everything that occurs before our eyes, or in our mind, is never the repetition of the same thing. They are constantly new and ever-changing, like the hands on a clock, they appear to be still, but they are in fact moving all the time.
The same is with our body. A stream of birth and death is occurring there all the time. Each day, over 50 million cells die. Each and every body organ is continually replenishing itself. This is true not only to our skin and hair, but also our bones, lungs, liver, kidneys, and our heart. It is estimated that in seven years' time, our whole body will become nearly entirely new. Nearly nothing old is left (except for the brain, perhaps).
This is particularly true with the mind, which is continually born and dies in great frequency. Just like the fluorescent light or the TV screen, the great frequency of their flickerings give the impression that they are sending steady light. Even when we are thinking about the same subject matter, or even when our anger lasts for days, the things that occur in our mind is always new. The anger that we felt a moment ago is not the same with our anger in this present moment. Just like the flame of a candle, its flame the previous second is not the same flame now.
Nothing is repeated. Everything is always new. If we open our mind to be in touch with the present moment, we will see and experience newness all the time, be it concretely or abstractly. The repetition only exists in our thoughts. But it does not exist in reality.
When we open our mind to watch the river stream _ when we are not attached to the old mental image we have created or when our mind is not clouded with thoughts _ we will be able to see a different stream that never fails to give us new, fresh feelings, as well as new discoveries.
When we chant our prayers with mindfulness on every single word, when we are not just reciting out of habit or chanting with our mind elsewhere, then we will discover that the prayers are always fresh, with new dimensions for us to contemplate on, although we have chanted the words for hundreds or thousands of times.
Keep observing our body that moves, the mind that breeds thoughts, the breathing that continually goes in and out, year in and year out, on the same path. For every breath and every walking step can shift our mind to a different dimension to see life and the world in a new light, in ways that we cannot imagine. This is because every breath we take and every step we walk is never repeated; they are always new.
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BangkokPost Newspapaer Published: 31/08/2010
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