Jessica Lange at SLC

NYT has a summary of some commencement speeches. I like what Jessica Lange said at Sarah Lawrence.

Be present. I would encourage you with all my heart — just to be present. Be present and open to the moment that is unfolding before you. Because, ultimately, your life is made up of moments. So don’t miss them by being lost in the past or anticipating the future.

Don’t be absent from your own life. You will find that life is not governed by will or intention. It is ultimately the collection of these sense memories stored in our nerves, built up in our cells. Simple things: A certain slant of light coming through a window on a winter’s afternoon. The sound of spring peepers at twilight. The taste of a strawberry still warm from the sun. Your child’s laughter. Your mother’s voice.

These are the things that shape our lives and settle into the fiber of our beings. Don’t take them for granted.

I had my own moment of being present today when I came across a beautiful church, called the Little Church aroud the corner. It was enclosed by a garden, as we went in, it was filled with incense and the organ was being played along with the choir singing. Quite Sublime!