"...stillness and packwood cabin..."

A busy time yet a time of rest and stillness.
 -a welcomed time of the lack of connectivity to all that has been distracting via internet and media
- the smell of sunshine in hair after a day skiing
- the warmth of the of the afternoon suns rays on the porch and on their feet 
- the sound of the wind in the tall pines- natures sound machine 
- the chattering of siblings playing outside on tree stumps and the woodshed
- smell of wood burning and fresh coffee

So how can I better focus on living the present moment?

“Even during a quiet evening at home, all we’re thinking about is the list of improvements that need to be made. There may be a beautiful sunset, but instead of taking it in, we’re taking a picture of it.
We are not present... and so we miss out. On life.
On being our best.
On seeing what’s there.
We do not live in this moment.
We, in fact, try desperately to get out of it–
by thinking, doing, talking, worrying, remembering, hoping, whatever.
There is only this moment.
Who is certain that they’ll get another moment that they can confidently skip over this one? The less energy we waste regretting the past or worrying about the future, the more energy we will have for what is in front of us.

"and finally He said to me, 

“My grace is enough to cover and sustain you. "

2 Cor 12:9 

We want to learn to see the world like an artist: While other people are oblivious to what surrounds them, the artist really sees. Their mine, fully engaged, notices the way a bird flies or the way a stranger holds their fork or a mother looks at her child. They have no thoughts of the morrow. All they are thinking about is how to capture and communicate this experience.
An artist is present.
And from the stillness comes brilliance.”
- Ryan Holiday, Stillness is The Key

You may be sure that you are at peace with yourself,” Seneca wrote, “when no noise reaches you, 

when no word shakes you out of yourself, 

whether it be flattery or a threat, 

or mearly an empty sound 

buzzing about you with unmeaning sin.”

 In this state,nothing could touch them, no emotion could disturb them, no threat could interrupt them, and every beat in the present moment

 would be theirs for living.

...stillness. 

To be steady while the world spins around you.”

- Ryan Holiday, Stillness is The Key

“Think how much grace one saint requires,

 so much that nothing but the Infinite could supply him for one day; and yet the Lord spreads his table, not for one, but many saints, not for one day, 

but for many years; not for many years only, 

but for generation after generation." 

(CHS - Evening 3/4)

"To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven."

 Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV

“In this stillness, trust that morning

 still overcomes darkness,

and there is a miraculous place 

you have been invited to.

Breathe through.” 

-Morgan Harper Nichols