Take a Look

   Do you know what's around the corner from you right now? It's interesting to think that  we really can't guarantee anything outside of our vision. We may think a friend is waiting for us inside of the cafe we are standing outside of, but until you open the door and flash a smile to them, you don't actually know.
   For many, this concept is lost when it takes on a bigger perspective.We become so accustomed to everyday life in modern society that the excitement of "ordinary" mystery evaporates. It may be the vice that television, cell phones, computers and the media have put on us, but we don't need to rely outside of our own power to entertain ourselves. Our focus should be on what is around us, what is "ordinary", what makes life.. well life, not on what show you want to watch when you get home, or the keypad on a blackberry. When we become distracted with all the entertainment at our fingertips, we pass on by everything else. Pass by the sun illuminating the branching of a leaf, the smile of a stranger, a conversation with a friend. We pass by what makes this moment special and the opportunities that slip past our unfocused awareness.
   At times my senses feel numb from all the entertainment around me. Just walking through the library I can see music videos, Ipods, movies, advertisements and news updates from around the world. It hasn't been very long since Americans didn't have any of those things, what would they think if they saw all of that? A definite shock to the senses. This numbness leads me to overlook much of the beauty both in man made and natural things. Try this next time you've sat in front of a screen for too long, take a step outside. Doesn't matter if the sun is shining or the moon is sitting high in the sky, just take a breath. Take in the fresh air, close your eyes and appreciate the stillness in mother nature. I like to take the nearest leaf or blade of grass in my hand and feel the essence of what has been here much longer than us. To not judge anything around me, just appreciate it all, and smile. After this, watching anything projected by pixels is simply mundane. Taking our senses back to its literal roots can make the mundane come back to life. The "ordinary" becomes extraordinary. Then, the mystery of what is around the corner is all the entertainment we need.   

Going By

  Kobe Bryant is sprinting over a purple and yellow LAKERS symbol that lays in the foreground of a giant championship trophy. He's worked out 7 days a week since longer than he can remember. He knew that he would have to work hard to keep up in the NBA, now he knows he didn't know how hard that would be. All the time in the weight room, on free through line, watching countless films and shooting in an empty gym didn't happen for him to sit the bench. This is his time, that work is now on display as entertainment for millions of fans.
  Crossing the ball over and into his left hand, he comes off a screen and lowers his shoulder through the next defender, his free hand sliding across the hardwood. His next stride is explosive, taking his momentum past another defender, he doesn't need to look at who's he's going by, he can only see one thing. All his focus is on getting the ball to the basket. He doesn't ponder, he acts, his thoughts are reality; he will continue.
  As he rolls out of a 270 degree turn, he catches a jersey color of a teammate as he launches of his right foot. A defender meets him in the air, determined to get a poster of himself blocking "the black mamba". But Kobe slithers the ball around his waist and draws it past the poster-boy, tossing it through the arms of the final defender and above the rim, into the outreached fingertips of the teammate he never made eye contact with.

  Do you think Kobe was wondering what he was going to eat that night? About the clothes he would wear tomorrow? Or how about what others think of him? I'll say no.
  But why would he? He is in full appreciation of the moment. There was no doubt in his actions, turning them into afterthoughts. The thoughts that may have crossed his mind while sitting first class and listening to his Ipod have no place when he is in the flow of the game. He was in a place where there was only here (actions focused solely in the present), and it was only now (past or future worries and thoughts bear no burden).
  Being in the here and now is not limited to athletic experiences. In fact is can be found in everything, that is the basis for Zen Buddhism (e.g: raking sand, eating rice with complete focus). Although becoming a monk or professional athlete to be in the moment is a little extreme, it is certainly more accessible than most of us think (for those that are even aware of it to begin with!).
  This is a topic I want to pursue in my research, for whenever I am totally focused, "in the zone", or whatever you may call it, it refreshes my soul and fills my sails. Not to mention the inner peace that comes with accepting this moment as the only canvas we can paint on, happiness seems a plausible friend of here and now.