subject: Living in the Now [print this page] Living in the Now Living in the Now
"Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be" --Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now)
What is living in the moment?
Let's see if I can help you understand this "now" business. For starts how can the future not be an illusion? Well it hasn't really happened so there is no future so to speak. We also do not know how that will pan out so in thinking of the future we can create undue suffering in ourselves wondering what if's. And what could be. What happened yesterday only happened in the now, for you were in the now when it happened. It can, and only will happen in the now. No matter how much you think that it's already happened. It only happened now. Everything you did, or will ever do is a result of what you are doing in the now.
Why should we be focused on the now?
For starters focusing on the future and yesterday creates anxiety, fear, panic, turmoil, and a whole lot of other emotions that you feel are a result of what happened in the "past" and what could happen in the "future." When you are focused on those time periods you are not concentrating on the most important time, now, and you can end up missing out on things because you are afraid of past failures, or what may happen.
Another very crucial part of the now is our power of affirmation, and manifestation. Those tools we are capable of using only happen in the now. You can't create something to happen yesterday, or something that happens tomorrow. You can only create it now. You can work to have something in your life, but you must actively shape that to occur in your life.
Suffering happens when you start to live out of the now. When you start to repeat that said situation in your head, and feel that it's going to happen again. If we focus on those thoughts every time we step out, we will stop living our lives in happiness. We will become fearful, and in some rare cases we will start to dread ever leaving our house. When you expect it to happen again, or to not be fine you will start creating suffering. Reliving that event over and over again is creating suffering in your mind.
An exercise for living in the now
An easy exercise for learning to live in the now would be paying attention to the moment you are in, and what you are doing now. Take for instance you are walking down the street. While you are walking pay attention to every little detail that is going on within you as you are walking. Be in that moment. Notice your foot. Notice when you pick it up. Do you put it down ball first, or toe first? Notice the contact you make on the ground. Notice your hands. Do you move them? Do they go up and down? Do they stay perpendicular to your body? Notice the way your clothing moves with you. Does it affix itself to your body; does it sway in the breeze?
The more you focus on, and concentrate on what you are doing, all the way down to the finest detail the more you will notice you have no choice but to be in this moment. You will notice while you are focused on every second of now you will notice that your thoughts are not there, and you have become submerged in this moment that you don't have time for any other moment.
