To be fully engaged in any action or with any person, you must first be present. Physical presence is not what I am referring to. Many times we are physically present but we see ourselves somewhere else, doing something else, or being with someone else. What are we missing when we are not present? First we are missing an opportunity to give ourselves to the moment, to the activity or to the other person or people. Every moment is an opportunity to serve and an opportunity to learn. If it isn’t, then we should remove ourselves as quickly as possible. We also miss whatever the other person means to give us. The greatest compliment we can give another person is to make them feel as if they are the most important person in the world and that nothing or no one else can deter or distract us from being present with them.
It takes practice to be fully present and engaged. I was fortunate to have learned this when I was training as a Morse Code operator in the US Army. We were first taught to identify what all of those dots and dashes represented, and another important skill we had to learn was how to block out everything else except to listen for those dots and dashes. We had to learn how to block out all other noises, images, and other people. The instructors would barrage us with loud noises such as jet or propeller engines, sirens, rock music, and people speaking in other languages. We had to learn how to disregard all other distractions and deterrents. I am happy to say that I learned the skills of listening and copying worse code, and blocking all other distractions well enough that I graduated at the top of my class. But it was not without a lot of concentration and focus. The greatest challenge was learning how to block out the other sounds and images in my mind. There is an awful lot of noise in there, as there is with all of us. I learned that I could not be somewhere else, in some other activity, or with some other person and at the same time be present or be in the moment.
My experience has served me well with so many of my own experiences and still does today. This is especially true as it relates to being present in my own activities. Last week I began swimming forty lengths of the pool at our local YMCA on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in the A.M. This morning I felt somewhat fatigued during my warm up exercises because I had interrupted rest when my daughter called at 12:30 A.M. to say she was involved in an auto accident (she is ok). I was determined to complete my training session without distraction, to block out the fatigue, and to only focus on my swimming technique. I affirmed to myself that “I remain present and engaged in this moment”. While I was swimming there was also a water aerobics class being conducted in the pool with approximately 75 people and although I had one lane cordoned off for lap swimming, there were several people as close as three feet from me. There was loud music, the instructor was giving directions over a microphone, and a lot of splashing. The class occupied about 90% of the pool area. Needless to say, I also swallowed a lot of chlorinated water with the splashing while I was taking breaths. But I was determined to block it all out, including the discomfort of the gag reflex from swallowing water. I kept telling myself “remain present and engaged in this moment”. I got my stroke into a constant rhythm and completed my training session and actually felt rejuvenated and motivated to take on the rest of my day’s challenges. I remembered my Morse code training and was determined to be present and engaged for the rest of this day in any place, any activity and especially with any person.