Intention

Holding the world in an open embrace is my primary intention, so I've made it the title of this blog. But what does that mean: an open embrace?

I visualize it as holding my hands together uplifted, at a comfortable level in front of me, as if putting them under a faucet to get a drink of water, gently cupped. In this position my hands are able to hold my current experience without smothering it. This position is loving, nurturing -– I can even use one of the hands to pet the moment! -- and it is open enough for me to be able to fully observe, satisfy my curiosity, and sate my thirst.

The open embrace is the opposite of grasping, clinging, trying to hold on tight to this moment – or this person – and feeling the ultimate wrenching when the moment passes or the person is gone.

It is also very different from putting my hand out like the Supremes doing Stop in the Name of Love, trying to keep the world at bay. Good luck with that!

Moments come and go whether I want them or not. The open embrace saves me from a whole range of self-deceptive techniques I might use to pretend that I can hold onto anything permanently or avoid dealing with experiences.

Since life is precious and temporal in nature, I want to be fully present to savor every moment of it with my full attention. I don't want to get to the end of my life and say "Oops! Can we rewind? I wasn't paying attention."

There are no TiVo controls! Except maybe the pause button. Yes, there is one of those, and it's called meditation. But meditation is much more than just time out of our busy lives. It's a large and inviting gateway to the present moment.

Won't you join me on this journey exploring meditation and Buddhist concepts?