Being Centered

"...When we move, we are in a way de-structured by our movement toward something: we are both here and at the same time not here because we're already in the process of going elsewhere..." -Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

She was talking about a rugby athlete "with unbelievable presence and intensity," who appeared to not be moving, but to be in the place he was at the time he was, while the rest of the players in the game were conforming to her thought noted above.

I once had an experience like this, where I watched a skateboarder coming down Mississippi in Portland, and the people around him on the street. It was a sunny day and I'd just come out of my coffee shop. I had the feeling that time had been altered for a moment. Like I wasn't in time, but I was observing it from a standstill point. Sort of like the graceful athlete in the book.

I can identify with the thought of how our movement is de-structured. I think our lives are often de-structured- moving to the next thing, while failing to enjoy the time we have now. Thinking that it will be better tomorrow, or if only I could get through this, rather than seeing what we have as something to be experienced and to be present. The graceful athlete, the calm in the storm, the person who is present- these are things to which I aspire.