Excerpt from Lessons of Labor: The Priority of the Present
The Priority of the Present Finally, I recognized that my will could no longer compete with my body. I put the half-cooked meal in the freezer and the mostly packed bags by the door. I needed to direct my full attention to labor. I moved slowly around the house, resting over the arms of couches and chairs, breathing deeply, and moaning quietly. Without the pressure of tasks to accomplish, I was able to notice that my contractions had progressed from the menstrual-like cramping sensation of before. They were now much stronger and more substantial. Something was really happening here. When necessity pulls me into the present, I know exactly what matters. One of the blessings of labor for me was the inability to attend to everyday minutiae. The sensations of my body became so powerful that my usual multi-tasking mindset started to fade into the distance. Though the mental chatter continued, it wasn’t in command anymore. I was able to access a deeper focus, the same mental focu...