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Moment to Moment

We hear a lot of talk about staying in the moment.  There is a Zen parable that I love because it takes this difficult challenge to the extreme.  It goes something like this.  A traveler was chased by a viscous tiger to the edge of a high cliff.  Slowly the tiger advanced until the poor guy was backed off the crumbling hillside.  As he is falling, presumably to his death, he sees a blackberry bush growing on the side of the mountain and catches sight of one particular berry growing there.  "What a perfectly beautiful berry! " he exclaims as he continues to fall.  Staying right in the moment.
I agree; some folks are better at this than others.

When I take off for the mountains and fly fish on a stream or lake, I have to be ever conscious of staying in the moment.  One lapse could mean everything from taking an unplanned dip in the water to missing something important like a fish taking a fly or even the beauty of the surroundings.
Yesterday, I was able to flee the bonds of the city and the current state of this planet and have a little alone time (amid others also escaping) on a lake.  There was very little wind for awhile, lots of bird action from beautiful Mallard Ducks to a pair of eagles circling overhead, to an amorous pair of salimanders swimming by.  I temporarily forgot about climate change and the destruction of the middle class.  I laid aside the idiocies of Common Core, Kardashians, and fast food.  For a few hours no Nigerian terrorists, no security cameras, no Tea Party non-sense.  Free from the repetition of TV commercials, rising costs of everything from gasoline to a quart of milk.  No leaf blowers, advertising jingles or difficulty finding a parking place.
Just wind and water and the occasional interaction with a rainbow trout.
Dinner too.

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