Trapped in the Present Moment
Today is the three-month anniversary of our move to North India. A few moments ago I glanced up at the blank space on our wall above the desk, and realized that this is the longest period of time I can remember that we’ve lived without a calendar. We intended to buy one to put up, but in the busyness of shopping for household necessities, the calendar got put off until it seems every shop has run out. Of course, our computer and Indian smartphones remind us of the date, and we can pull up a calendar page on the screen easily enough. Somehow, though, those digital versions don’t give us the contextual sense of location in time that a paper calendar on the wall does. To be honest, one reason that we haven’t prioritized getting a calendar is that we wouldn’t have much to write on it! Since landing in India, we’ve made very few plans for the future. Aside from a weekly lunch meeting with our co-workers, our calendar would be blank.
A corollary to our lack of a calendar is our lack of verb tenses in our new language. While we’ve learned quite a bit of useful vocabulary, when it comes to verbs, we only know how to use the present tense. I can say, “I make tea in my kitchen,” or “I’m making tea right now.” But I’m unable to express whether I made tea yesterday or last month, or whether I ever will again. In my interaction with my new neighbors, I constantly bump up against the limits of the present, wanting to ask questions and talk about the past and the future, both mine and theirs.
Yet another cup of chai, right here, right now.
Being trapped in the present moment is especially hard for us Americans, because we tend to be future-focused and calendar-conscious. As I sat with a neighbor over yet another cup of chai, I realized that I am being given an opportunity to practice the “sacrament of the present moment.” Can I resist the temptation to mull over the past or plan for the future and focus only on understanding and being understood by my new friend right now? Can I be fully attentive to the taste of the chai, the breeze coming in the window, and the thoughts we are trying to share? As I experience this calendar-less and tense-limited season of life, I’d like to be grateful for the gift of the present moment.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged the present moment by Lisa