Gator Love Letter

Living in the moment...

         I've spoke of this in a previous post, but one of the most famous teachings uses the example of an hors d'oeuvre tray. They say that if the tray is in front of you, eat happily what you want from it. If it has not yet come to you, do not crave it, and if it has passed you by, do not long for its return. 

        We all root from the same innate lack of satisfaction and desire for more. 

We are all in some way the same person, and we all want the same things. "More" of whatever it is that you don't already have or don't have enough of. Whatever you're afraid of losing or afraid may not come your way. If we are smart in our endeavors to get "more" or be "it" then we will do good things with whatever is that is placed in front of us. 

To truly experience the privilege of having good people and great opportunities in our lives, we must appreciate the nature and the presence of everything around us. We must be dedicated with absolute devotion to the moment and the very instance that we live in. 

Consider a life where we're constantly racing to the next best thing to acquire whatever it is the rest of society wants. If that is where we live, constantly longing for something else, than what happens to the moments, the people, and the instances that we currently have now? We will have indirectly lost them all in the desire for something that we think is that much better. 

         If you are sitting on the bench, waiting for your shot, than you should be longing for far more than your spot to open up. You should be hoping for more time and opportunity to prepare yourself. Acquiring more strength and the courage for that very moment.You should relish in the opportunity of proving everyone wrong, in being the unspoken and doing the unexpected. You should live for the second you get your shot and make them hate that they've waited this long. 

         In everything that you do you must figure out a way to love where you are and realize what you have. You've got to find a way to ice everything in front of you, regardless of whether you thirst for it or not. 

You must STOP constantly wanting more, and by default eliminating what you already have. 

When I was at Stanislaus I felt like I could live forever and loved everything that was right in front of me. As much as I no longer wanted to be in school, and was so ready to move on, I realized that the people around me, my teammates and my family were people that I wouldn't find in any other part of my life. The girls I met on that team, my best friends, my mentors, were the catalysts to making me who I am today. The program I played for was, in my opinion, the best in the CCAA. Our growth spoke volumes to the conference, and we had the pleasure of playing against teams that hadn't changed since the first time we played them. 

We were constantly overwhelmed with opportunity. Not because we had any more than others, but because I knew we had it so much better than everyone else. We loved the team we played for and we may not have been the best in the league but it always felt like we were. 

SF State who had the same shitty game plan, same hideous uniforms and same crappy ass field was our perspective. They were never changing, yet always longing to play better soccer. I always felt like they were the worst team to play, yet the best confirmation of our blessed reality.

       My point is to say that although I love where I am now, I also really love where I came from. I spend little time worrying about the future, or how great the next best thing was, because I am so busy in awe of everything right in front of me. 

This life, for all of us, is so much better than it is for everyone else. We've got to stop trying to change it. Stop longing for  something else. For we have so much work to do with what we have right in front of us today. 

      I'd rather sit the bench at Stanislaus, than ever sport that awful yellow at San Francisco State. 
      That is my perspective.

I like to think that I don't appreciate any entity that isn't worthy, and I by default love my Alma Mater and the current place it has brought me to. I guess I'm STILL living in that moment.

       Appreciate that.