Present
Present
“Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen in the Now.” When Eckhart Tolle writes like this, some people think that the Now is some mystical state of new age hippiedom, accessible if at all only by saints and gurus and people without 9 to 5 jobs, families and responsibilities.
It all begins with being present. But the simple, elegant truth is that the present moment, the “Now” of Tolle’s work, is the most accessible, ubiquitous of states underlying every activity, relationship, memory, plan, pleasure or worry. Everyone, householders and saints alike, people with small children, great responsibility and crazy jobs, all can cultivate this powerful state. In fact, the greater, crazier and needier your responsibilities, job or family are, the more accessing this state will support you in all you do. The less time you think you have, the more you need the present moment.
It’s easy to think that the present moment, if it’s not some mystical thing shrouded in ceremony and circumstance is then the second or minute or other ubiquitous unit of time that we string together and slog through consecutively, spending one just to get to what the next contains.
Present moment awareness is not a moment or any unit of time, because it is the very possibility of time. Time is a measure of change and change is experienced when we are present not as one state and then another state, but as a continuum of dynamic being. The awareness that holds this unfolding is presence. It really is about being present.
When we are present, we are fully available to what is. Our attention is awake, open and playful, without resistance or anticipation and so free from judgment. The feeling that goes along with presence is often referred to as “flow.” Flow is that feeling of being one with your activity in a state where time disappears and there is just the activity as an interplay of forces and creation. Athletes describe it when they are in top form, experts of all fields report this feeling when they are practicing their art. Children live in this state most of the time.
In the present moment we are not planning or remembering, and without remembering we cannot compare or judge one thing to be more or less than another. When we are able to let go of our pre-conceptions and our fears and realize what simply is, we are in the Now. This Now underlies all calendars, clocks and lists, and is the condition for such tools of planning and control. As tools, there is nothing wrong with any of these things; but too often we mistake the tool for the thing, the map for the road, the description for the place. And instead of going to Paris, we read about it; instead of diving into the present moment, we plan for it, remember what it once was, describe it, read about how to get to it. “It” is always with us, we are always in it, in fact we are nothing except the present moment. But we create many identities, concepts and ways of breaking it up in order to connect it to memories and plans. These control methods can be useful, as long as don’t wander so far from the real thing that we forget and mistake the idea for what it represents.
Any time you are making lists, this is a clue that you are planning, casting forward out of the present moment. Any time you are comparing one thing and another, this is a clue that you are remembering, casting backward to create a past. Allow yourself these things because they bring meaning and texture to who you are. But never forget to ask yourself why you are reaching out of the Now to an imagined future or a remembered past. Are you distracting yourself from something uncomfortable? Are you running from something you fear? Are you being present?
You can meditate all the time, in every moment, with every motion, breath and thought, if you are willing to stay. Remain with what is rather then wishing for something else to be or that was and transform your life with the magic of the present moment.
>>>Learn more about various meditation techniques
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