{"id":8582,"date":"2014-10-17T09:46:48","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T16:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/?p=8582"},"modified":"2026-01-27T13:38:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T21:38:53","slug":"reverence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/2014\/10\/17\/reverence\/","title":{"rendered":"Reverence"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is real for me in this moment: life feels bittersweet. It’s October again. Soon it’s Christmas. It’s “Where did the time go?”<\/em> Then it’s a new year, and the school year ends, and summer vacation evaporates, school begins again, and then: another new year. Life is like this, every year. I recognize this, every year. I remember this conversation with myself from last year. The older I get, the more time compresses. <\/p>\n

I practice presence — living here and now — and I’ve gotten pretty adept. Compared to the me I was in my 20s, 30s, and 40s, I focus less on past rumination and future anxiety. But that doesn’t make the time pass more slowly. It doesn’t change the fact that this life<\/em> is such a short stint.<\/p>\n

Yes, there’s Presence. The intangible subtle Mystery to which we are connected, from which we arise and to which return. It is possible to notice and experience this daily. Sometimes I even live within and from it — from a knowing that defies description or understanding with the mind.<\/p>\n

But lately I’ve been noticing: I like this<\/em> current incarnation. I like being in this body, living this life. It is precious. Yet it all changes. And there is grief.<\/p>\n

I found a photo of myself when I was seven months old. I look into that sweet baby’s face and feel such love for her. Her softness, her open expression. Her innocence. I look at my daughter, a lovely soul, and remember the delicious intimacy of holding her. <\/p>\n

Life is doing what it does. I’m so grateful that I am<\/em>, that I’ve gotten to be this person. It’s just passing so quickly.<\/p>\n

\"KathrynAsBaby\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Me, 7 months old<\/center><\/p>\n
\"you<\/a><\/div>\n

Bean, 7 months old<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is real for me in this moment: life feels bittersweet. It’s October again. Soon it’s Christmas. It’s “Where did the time go?” Then it’s a new year, and the school year ends, and summer vacation evaporates, school begins again, and then: another new year. Life is like this, every year. I recognize this, every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,217,219],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism","category-meditation","category-spirit"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8582"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8587,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8582\/revisions\/8587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}