Wherever You Go There You Are

The title of this post is actually borrowed from a book I read a while ago by Jon Kabbat-Zin.  The book is about practicing mindfulness in our everyday life.  Mindfulness as defined by Zinn is a practice where "we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now.”  

The artwork above was commisioned by a woman as a gift for her husband upon his 40th birthday.  The wife knew what she wanted; a papercut mounted on a background painted in earth tones, an enlarged Hebrew letter "mem" and cut-outs of musical instruments since her husband is very musically talented.  And lastly, she wanted a verse from Sefer B'reishit "Ba'asher hu sham- in his present state." The last request puzzled me.  The verse is found in the story where Avraham Avinu sends Hagar and Yishmael away from his home.  The two wander in the desert of Be-er Sheva and when there is no longer water to drink and Yishmael is literally dying from thirst God hears Hagar's and Yishmael's cries of distress and an angel from heaven calls out to Hagar and says, "Fear not, for God has heeded the cry of the youth in his present state."   Even though the angels in heaven tried so to speak to dissuade God from saving Yishmael based on the evil his descendants would perpetrate against Bnei Yisrael, God doesn't listen to the angels pleas and saves Yishmael based on who he is at that moment in time.  Why, I thought would she want this verse included in the artwork?

The wife answered that her husband often likes to tell this story and quote this verse as a basis for living a mindful life.  As a practicing psychotherapist he tries to inspire his clients to live mindfully as well as practice it in his own personal life.  At first hesitant, now I was all for including the verse.  After all, probably most people on their birthdays, especially the milestone ones, spend the day (or perhaps even weeks leading up to it) obsessing over their lives thus far and fearing what is yet to come.  "Should've done this, should NOT have done that!"  All those regrets and thoughts of missed opportunities mixed with fears of aging and the future can cloud and ruin a day that is meant for celebration. 

 How nice is it to receive on your birthday a piece of artwork that serves as a visual reminder to quiet all that noise in your head and the chaos that so often surrounds us and instead calmly and serenely enjoy the best gift of all: being fully aware and present to the very moment in which you are currently in.