How am I living the dharma today? By being as fully attentive and present as I can be with my 3 (almost 4) year old daughter in the morning when working towards getting us both out the door on time.

For me this morning, this meant not turning on the TV to watch the news while we both sat down to have breakfast. My first impulse was to just turn on the TV to one of those morning news programs. Then I paused and thought about just being there with Amy and relating to her in the current reality of eating together. And that’s what I did. It was nice. We joked and goofed around and had a good time together.

My Zen practice has helped me be more aware of those habit energies that disconnect me from my family, and being aware of them allows me the opportunity to make a choice. The choice to BE with my family in a very real way. For this wonderful gift I am very grateful to my practice.

For this day, may I continue to have the awareness of those habit energies that tend to pull me out of the reality of my present moment. Once aware, may I always choose the present moment.

Gassho.