One morning, I was in a milk barn performing my job as I have done countless times before. The final step in this process is to turn off the pump on the trailer, which is done by flipping a simple switch. Simple enough and quite repetitive, being that I’ve been coming to this particular farm for five years now.
I knew the time had come to turn off the pump when my milk hose started dancing due to there not being any milk in the hose to weigh it down. I promptly wandered over to the wall and subsequently flipped the switch. I was perplexed when faced with the realization that the pump was still running. I was embedded in a quandary and searched for reasoning. I marveled at the ironic conclusion of noticing that the room was dark because I had flipped the light switch.
I’m not infallible as mistakes are indicative of the human condition, and yet I was astounded by the error in my systematic approach to my work process. These events promptly put me into a state of self-discovery, and my quest for internal understanding yielded a profoundly egregious result.
It was an insidious course that I was unaware of, at least consciously, that led up to my sheer folly. It brought with it to the forefront of my awareness that I had been acting externally while being somewhere completely different internally, to which these series of unfortunate events occurred. I hadn’t realized I had let my mind wander off, and even though I’ve done the same job a multitude of times before, that moment I wasn’t in the moment created this chain of mistakes.
I’m reminded of a time when my wife and I were relaxing on the couch watching TV, and at some point, I caressed her cheek as I often did. Her response in that moment was, “There you are, you haven’t been here most of the night.” I pondered a while trying to understand what she meant because I had been there for hours. I came to realize that what she meant was that I had been elsewhere in my mind, and that resonated with her. I was not there in the moment with her, and that impacted me greatly.
Perhaps the greatest gift we can give another is our presence. It perpetuates a bond, that closeness people long for and attribute to their happiness. We all crave affection and a sense of belonging with others. It goes so much deeper than the physical body being present, though. Holding the hand of someone who is gone in their mind is blatant and distant. It breaks the bond and unfulfills the desires. Give your loved one all of your being, and the joy it creates is unimaginable. Being present at the moment has bountiful rewards and will greatly improve your life in every situation. Peace and love
The Wandering-Mind 