Even before moving to New Mexico, I loved Tony Hillerman novels. There I was on a farm in Northern Wisconsin in January–below zero, snow on the ground– reading Hillerman’s descriptions of Shiprock, Window Rock, Gallup and the terrain and open sky of the Southwest. Now the mystery series has been continued by his daughter, Anne, and I just finished reading her first novel, Spider Woman’s Daughter. One of the main characters is Officer Bernie Manuelito who worries about a mother who is old and frail, a sister who is drinking heavily (and to Bernie’s eyes wasting her life), an uncle who has been shot in the head and in a coma in Santa Fe, and the investigation of that shooting which seems to be going nowhere.

This morning I thought, Good grief, What a life she has! Where is there room for joy and happiness? Then I thought we all have similar lives filled with worry and stress. Worrying about the health of our parents, our own health, the well-being of our children. Stressing over our job, money, our relationships. We have an over-abundance of things to worry and stress about that can keep us occupied 24/7. And this worry acts as a filter to the present moment. We think about our worries instead of clearly seeing what is in front of us. We might be out walking our dog but our minds are regurgitating the latest hassles at work which fill us with a slight anger. We might be sitting with our parents in their living room but our minds are off weaving a story of how frail they look which fills us with worry.

If the Hillerman novel was focused on just recounting the internal worries of Bernie Manuelito it would be a pretty boring read. Instead, Bernie often stops the internal yakking to appreciate where she is. At times she is present in the moment.

Finally, the view she loved, the San Juan River south of the highway, flowing between rows of towering ancient cottonwoods.

The sky was majestic. The Sandia Mountains rose like a rugged blue monolith to the east, glowing in the reflected oranges, vivid reds, and brilliant sunflower hues of the sunset. He put his arm around her as they watched the light change from magenta to smoky rose and dissolve into the soft gray of summer predarkness.

We too can work toward being present in the moment. We can be present with our parents in their living room without some distracting constant dialog in our minds. We can walk the dog and simply be walking our dog. Instead of thinking Good grief, my life is so hard. I work long hours, I’m exhausted when I get home. blah, blah, blah. we can just be present in the moment. That’s where happiness lies. Our lives may indeed be hard. We may work long hours. We may have some illness. But by constantly thinking about all this we are just working ourselves up more and more. More anger, more worry, more suffering. The path out of this is working on being present in the moment. This is the focus of Zen and why we practice meditation.