It sure is tough to stay fully focused these days. We reach a new country, we’re already raring to search for airport WIFI, check in and share the excitement. We experience something new or see/taste a new meal, our mind (being bloggers) semi- kicks into writing mode to craft the next entry. These are in contrast with what mindfulness is – present moment awareness. There’s a line I repeat to myself, in order to keep myself present, especially when I travel.
Stay here now, cos we’ll never experience the same way about these places again.
No matter which country I’m in, which cities give me culture shock (Vietnam is one), what programs are inside the itinerary, that sentence holds true. There’s a good chance we’ll not experience the same sensations twice. Each moment is a concoction of many different elements: the citizens whose lives we’re privileged to have a look at for an instant, the weather, what is going on at that exact instant, the fellow travellers who are also on their own journeys just like us. I think each moment contains magic.
Each moment is a fleeting moment, meant to be embraced and celebrated.
To me, the most memorable scenarios in particular are when I’d focused on present moment awareness. When I stop thinking and instead, only feel the moment for what it is. Like that time I watched fireflies lighting up the trees while our boat quietly cruised down the mangroves in Kota Tinggi, where the only light came from the sky; or the other time we stood on the deck of the boat watching fireworks going off in full glory in celebration of Loy Krathong festival in Bangkok; or the time we walked in darkness to our resort in Mui Ne, Vietnam, but the sky was splendid with lots of stars. There are many more memories. Each of those trips happened with different people who had come into my life for a season or a reason. Each moment is a fleeting moment – all the more a precious one to embrace and celebrate.
Stay in the moment.
Appreciate for what it is, good and bad.
