Tag Archives: in the moment

22

Living in the Moment

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living in the momentLiving in the moment is a lost art. It is easy to get sucked into the thought patterns that take you into the past and allow a person to remember past triumphs, beautiful feelings, or pleasant times with those we love. Or conversely, people are lost in the worry about what might happen tomorrow, thinking up all kinds of disasters they might suffer but probably won’t. These two distractions regretting the past and worrying about the future, are the most significant factors causing suffering and unhappiness today. Learning to live, really live in the present, is the most powerful tool you can develop for a happy life. The only moment we are guaranteed in any life is this one; right here, don’t waste it by not being present.

Many live just by going through the motions, standing still, or worse yet, living in the glow of past events. There is nothing wrong with understanding and remembering your past, but allowing it to dominate your current life through nostalgia and thoughts of a romantic past will lessen the joy you can have today. Several others Living in the moment will provide happiness and satisfaction in each part of your day. In reality, it is all that you are guaranteed to have.

What is Past Is Prolog, Living in the Moment

All the events and experiences we have ever had are simply an introduction to what we will face today. Each experience, good, past is prolougebad, or neutral, is given to us as a gift to experience, understand, enjoy, feel, and learn from but then discard. You take the lesson from them and take it with you. But you leave the past behind you, which can do you no good. The weight of carrying who you were, where you were, and what you wished you had done is too much for the strongest person. The past is only an introduction and explanation for the person you have developed into today. Don’t let the past be the star. Fill that role yourself.

Most often, the lessons you learn will be vital in dealing with something in your future. There are many different opportunities to excel and grow because of the tasks that the past provides you with. Even a bad experience can bring an understanding or lesson you need to accomplish a goal or follow a dream. Don’t bother getting all wrapped up in a bad experience, as it will only weigh you down like an anchor. Take the lessons and values and move forward. In doing this, you can strive to become the best version of yourself.

Leave it ALL Behind Practice Living in the Moment.

Once you learn the lessons, those must be all you take. Pleasant and bad memories need to be placed aside because they take attention away from what you can get out of living in the momenttoday. Right now is a powerful place and the only place you can be right now. There is no yesterday, last hour, tomorrow, or an hour from now. None of these places are guaranteed to you in any way.

The past is often taken out of context in our minds, and we remember the past how we want it to rather than how it was. This is demonstrated in every event witnessed by a group of people. When you approach them separately, the story will never be the same. Rarely is the story even close to what it is in reality. The past is nothing to build a life on because the memories you bank on are most likely partially fabricated. The benefit is that if you don’t like what happened, you can change that story to something more positive and supportive. This moment is all that you have.

Living in the moment is the only reasonable choice for becoming your best in whatever you want to accomplish.

 

22

In The Moment

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A person may not be able to see it, but at this very moment, at least a thousand thoughts are running around inside our heads. Some ideas are great, and some are, well, thoughts. They are not all deep and meaningful, but they are all ours. In no particular order of importance are beliefs that you might have this day.

Starting the Day

mindfulness
Be mindful of the opportunity today brings

At this very moment, you might be thinking of the quiet that starts every day. It is a space between sleeping and the hurry of the day. This room is the point where a day holds its ultimate potential, and nobody has made one mistake. Even if it seemed impossible, whatever was bothering you the day before has disappeared and been replaced by a small manageable little problem that you know can be dispensed with as quickly as a breakfast sandwich at the start of a day. There is a possibility at this moment that all things can change for the better.

The Little Things

enjoythelittlethingsYou might be thinking, at this very moment, about the little things in life. Often life is not about the big stuff. The big stuff will come along and are scheduled for the most part, and you can plan and prepare for them. The big occasions provide captured images and are saved in photo albums to relive when the mood hits you. The little things are the endless minutia of activity that fills your lives. Daily happenings and encounters that color the flavor of life. Do you take the time to enjoy them?

Do you savor the taste of the food you are eating, or do you eat out of habit? Are you grateful for each thing that you have, or are they all just piled into a group of stuff labeled “things that you deserve”? I believe that the more you appreciate the little things in life, a friend, a talk, a walk, a tree, some flowers, a comfortable seat, a good book, a hot shower, a cup of coffee, or anything else that you experience throughout the day, the happier you will be. Be mindful of each thing you do, and it will have magic to it that contributes to your day.

The Music in My Head

MusicYou might be thinking about the music you like right now and how music makes life much more enjoyable; it touches your soul. It doesn’t matter to me what genre a song hails from. A song enters your life, either make an impression and stays or moves on. I often hear a song, and if I like it, I add it to a playlist that will forever represent this moment in time to me. In the days of burned CDs, I would give them names and write notes on them. Now I write the notes in my head and enjoy the music.

Here is one song I like. Be careful if you listen because it will get stuck in your head—this is one of my all-time favorites thought-provoking songs. Even though I’m not too fond of winter, I love it when it is over.   Music is the language of the soul, and listening to it adds magic to life. What harmony is coloring your life today?

 No Need To Hurry

At this moment, you might be contemplating the fact that the faster you try to go, often the longer it takes to reach your destination. The other day I was trying to force finish an assignment, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to get out of my way. The next day I focused and relaxed, and that same job that was so difficult the day before just flowed out of my consciousness and onto the workflow.   It is right in many other aspects of life. Hurry to get there, find the answer, get it done quickly, and you often have difficulty finishing the task. Much like a car moving too fast to catch your exit. Slow down, be mindful of what you are trying to accomplish, and enjoy the ride.   It is often the journey that you remember even more than the destination. Relax and enjoy the ride.

You are Right Where You Should be

urlFinally, at this moment, you may be contemplating the peace that comes from knowing that you are exactly where you should be. We all get caught up in worrying about something that we have no control over many times. We desire to be successful, but no actual definition to let us know when we get there. Then it hits you. “I am right where I should be,” all the events in your life have worked together in concert to bring you to this point, and you should enjoy the moment. Then pause for just a second, feel a sense of appreciation, and then move forward with a feeling of happiness and peace. Be grateful for all of the people you have known, the hurdles you have overcome, the wisdom you have gained from all of the lessons you have learned, both natural and complex.

At this very moment, you are right where you should be. You can’t do any better than that!

 

21

Calm

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Calm Leads To Power

My goal is to establish a positive focus every morning by focusing on a positive word or phrase. There are enough negative influences in my world, and I believe that we can improve our emotions, words, and actions and make the world a better place one thought, feeling, word, and move at a time through a conscious direction of our thinking. It is easy to lose yourself and your focus in the whirl of activities and distractions we are bombarded in each moment: social media, video games, popular culture, and everything else we are exposed to. Let’s face it, and we have more technology in our phones than we had in the entire school of our youths.  Calmness is a feeling of relaxation and clear thinking, and we can get it at almost any time through mindful breathing and meditation. There is a power in the calm for you to direct your focus in the directions that will be beneficial to you and away from what other people might think you should spend some time and effort finding your calm today.

What does it mean to be Calm?

When you look at your inside world, where thoughts and emotions jumble together to create your consciousness, the ability to organize and regulate will allow you to function at a high level. You will be able to develop better relationships and be more productive if you can remain calm in the chaos of your thoughts.  To be calm is not to let your emotions dominate your behavior but to become the master of them and allow a transparent thought process to dictate your actions, not the irrational and erratic activities of emotions.  This calm is easy to explain but not so easy to master, so I implore you today to make being calm a part of your consciousness!

Storms Come For Growth

Life, as always, is a very willing teacher in the mastery of your calmness. To write or think about controlling your emotions in the abstract is all well and good. But what about when you are in the throws of emotions. Strong emotions come into our experience, and you can’t just ignore them; you have to deal with them in some form or fashion.  Life will present you with plenty of challenges to provide opportunities to grow.  For me, it is a chance to become a better practitioner of the things I think.  Emotions are not a weakness but giving in to their irrational behavior is.

The parts of the brain which control the regulation of emotions are also the ones that handle working memory, which involves your awareness and allows you to remain focused on the information you are taking in. As a result, you can determine relevant from irrelevant.  In short, you can function as a thinking human being and do things efficiently.  When your emotions are disturbed, then this part of the brain goes offline.  Calmness and learning to maintain your thought regulation under challenging circumstances is the power of your serenity. To function fully when the world is crashing, emotionally, all around you.  That is the goal of bringing calm into the front of your consciousness.

Some Calmness Ideas

So that is why you want to be calm, but how do you become better at it.  Learning to master your thoughts and understand how they affect you emotionally is the first step. Each of our thoughts are connected to emotion; it could be anger, happiness, contentment, restlessness, fear, or calm.  We have been conditioned in life to react to certain thought situations in a certain way. Understanding what these situations are for us is the first step.  To do this, one of the best tools you have is meditation.

Meditation is the simple act of learning to manage your thoughts and emotions in an organized way. It is nothing more than that. It doesn’t take a lot of skill or talent. Practice focusing your concentration on the thoughts you have and the effect they have on you.  Simple instructions can be gained today through an app on your phone.  Focused breathing works for me to get my mind under control, but other people use different techniques. The goal is to find calm in the mess of your mind, so keep trying to find the best method of meditation for you.

Mindfulness From This

Mindfulness, or living in the present moment, is another good focus to bring calm to your thoughts and your life. Many of the ideas that disturb our lives and mix up our guide are those spent on regrets of the past and worries about the future.  The only moment we are guaranteed is right here and right now.  Our mind is a powerful and creative tool that, left unchecked, can create wildly negative scenarios that might happen in the future.  All are based on fear and worry. Most of these will never happen, and if they did, you would handle them.

The past is great for learning. It would be foolish not to use the experience from the past to become better today. However, it can be as detrimental to you as worrying about the future.  We all have done things, made decisions, and had experiences in the past that we carry regrets about. The past is gone, and we can’t get it back, no matter what we do.  All of our programming, the emotional responses we have to events today were created there. So a clear understanding of the emotions we felt all of our lives allows us to deal with today in a much more efficient manner.  Bring that knowledge into the present moment where it can do you some good.

Be Calm Today

Look at your emotions today and start to build some emotional understanding. It isn’t easy to remain calm if we never deal with or talk about our feelings.  At least, you may create a fake peace by ignoring an emotion and dismissing it for the time being, but these things will come back to you and erupt like a volcano if you don’t release the emotional pressure a bit at a time.  Releasing your tension comes by recognizing what you feel and expressing that, and hopefully talking about why you think the way you do.

Developing the ability to maintain calm in your emotional storm will allow you to create an effective, inspirational regulation program. This peacefulness keeps your brain from going offline when you hit an emotional event and will enable you to perform better, understand yourself more and become better as people. So bring the factor of calm into your consciousness today and take a look at your emotions.

“It’s all about finding the calm in the chaos.” Donna Karen

“Ships don’t sink because of the water around them; ships sink because of the water that gets in them. Don’t let what’s happening around you get inside you and weigh you down.” Anonymous

“Calmness is the cradle of power.” Josiah Gilbert Holland

“I breathe in calmness, I breathe out stress.” Anonymous