Tag Archives: the now

22

The Present Moment is All We Have

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This moment is the only one you are guaranteed to experience. That is a fact. Why do we spend so much time avoiding the only time we are guaranteed? The number of reasons is as wide and as varied as people in the world. Some are caught by the nostalgia of yesterday. Others are living for the next moment, tomorrow, next week, or next year ignoring what is happening. It is essential to understand the present moment and enjoy living in it to enjoy your life.

Notice Your Breath

The easiest way I have found to get myself into the moment is to learn to watch my breath. Breathing is one of our body’s only functions, both voluntarily and involuntarily. Left to its own, a person will breathe without a thought because oxygen is required for life. But the same function, when under observation, can bring a person into the moment and allow them to become conscious of it. It is as simple as thinking, “I am breathing in”  as you inhale, and “I am breathing out” as you exhale.

The depth of your breath has many functions to bring more oxygen to your body, brain, and heart and to allow your physical system to run more efficiently. It will also get you into the now, this moment, which is the only one we have.   You can do this silently by yourself and see the results at any time and in any place.

The Value of This Moment

You only have one life to live, a relatively short experience, and you should outlive it to be consciously aware of most of it. In the present moment, all decisions are made, and your life will be defined. If your mind is focused on the past and regrets old actions or on how good things will be tomorrow when this or that happens, you will miss the things you have to experience right now.

If you can be focused on and try to experience what is right in your life, happiness is there waiting for you. Even if the moment is hard, painful, or contains something you don’t want, it still provides the only experience you can have. To wish away or ignore the challenges is to wave away the living you are gifted in this life. Focus on your breath, and see what is happening right before you.

Be Creative

All people can be creative, and creativity will naturally bring you into the present moment. If you are practicing true creativity, there is no other place you can be. Painting, drawing, carving wood, planning a garden, working on a new invention, or making your workplace more efficient. All creativity will bring you into the present moment and allow you to experience the only time you have available to you.

Even if you are not good at something, you can still experience the present moment by pursuing it. People are often put off practicing creativity as youths because they are often told that their pursuits are excellent, but they can’t make a living. But making a living isn’t the point, and living your life is. Do not take criticism about your ability in creative pursuits personally. Create whenever the mood strikes you.

People Connect You to The Present

Every person you come in contact with in life provides an opportunity to be in the moment. Each conversation, short or long, shallow or in-depth, is an opportunity to be here in this moment. Please focus on the interaction and seek its value, and there is always value. If nothing else, then understand other people or yourself better. Paying attention to the words we speak and, even more importantly, the things we hear from others will provide guidance.

Nature Brings The Moment Alive

Getting yourself out into a natural setting will allow you to come into the present moment. You can’t help if you remove yourself from the electronic noise, get into the woods, or sit by.

Find the moment connecting with nature.

The ocean, there is a connection to the now created, and you will be living in the present moment, which is the only time you can have right now.

So much of our lives are filled with noise. My generation was raised to have the television on all the time and today’s youth live life attached to a phone, mindlessly scrolling through their lives on social media. There is no chance to be in the moment if your mind is on the past, the future, or in an unconscious state of muddled thought.

Take time to practice connecting with the present moment each day. The activities I recommend here are 1. Notice your breathing. 2. Value the moment. 3. Be Creative. 4. Connect with People. 5. Spend time in nature. 

This is the only moment you have, and all things happen at this moment.

22

Move Toward the Positive

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Suppose you are honestly looking at your thoughts and see too many ideas and feelings falling into the negative. In that case, it is time for you to reevaluate how you are thinking and to start learning how to say “goodbye” to negativity. It is simple to do, but it isn’t easy. We are hardwired to be harmful, and changing that programming takes a slight rise in your level of consciousness and embracing the present moment of your life. Here are some ideas on how to move toward the positive.

Negativity Rising

Negativity rises from us as we deny the present moment of experience we are having. That means we spend too much time living in our future or our past and not enough time in the only moment we have, the present. Much of our negativity comes from fears we face, which result from putting our thoughts in the future. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, and worry are all from a fixation on the future and projections of the mind about what might happen. Our brains can create all sorts of doomsday scenarios for all aspects of our lives. We could be fired, get into an accident, lose someone, become a victim of a crime, or do any other horrible thing. A negative mindset is a natural result if you live with these fantasies.

So too, are the visits of the past and their ghosts of forgiveness. Suppose you allow your mind to troll through memories, searching for moments of guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, or any other negative experience. In that case, you are taking yourself to a place of negativity that may or may not even be real. We all remember things the way we want to remember them. Two people can see the same event and come to two different stories. Your memories of wrongs done in the past are as accurate. The past is over, and there isn’t anything you can do to change it. Learn whatever lesson you can glean, but leave the emotion out because all that will do is take you into a negative headspace, which is out of the only place we can live here, at the current moment. Forgive the past and those in it, most importantly yourself. It is all water over a dam, and it is our most significant challenge to let it go.

Today is All We Have

Accepting where we are at this moment is the beginning of any significant journey. When it comes to leaving negativity behind, look at where you are and decide what you want the tenor of this moment to be. Your thoughts will determine if you will spend time in the painful negative or the positive area of your life. Look at the things in your present moment—the weather, the sounds, the feelings, and the experience right now. Look at your thoughts and bring them into the present moment, rather than focus on the past’s wrongs or future worries. Focus on your experience now because that is all you will ever have.

Through a conscious look at the present, you can observe the things creating negativity, unease, discontent, and tension within you. Usually, they will arise because of an unnecessary judgment of others and resistance to the present moment. We develop habits of thought, just like we develop patterns of behavior. Most people take the same route to work because it takes less thought and effort to do this. The same can be said for our thoughts. Our patterns are developed and continually play along on an unconscious loop. Only the light of conscious awareness can interrupt these patterns. All negativity is a resistance to what is in one form or another. Stop resisting and move forward happily.

Self Observation

This is the tool for operating on a more conscious level of living. Watch your mental environment and see how it contributes to your emotional state. Our thoughts are naturally attached to an emotion based on our experiences in life. Try to direct your attention inward and observe the thoughts your mind is producing. Look at what you are feeling because of the ideas you have. Negative thoughts will lead to negative emotions. When an uncomfortable feeling appears, look at how you are avoiding, resisting, or denying your life right now.

Often people resent others and are not used to expressing this because of the fear of hurting feelings or making someone angry. But the emotion you feel is there for a reason, and bottling it up is unhealthy and leads to resentment and negativity. The cure is natural. Stop doing what you are doing and speak to the people involved, fully expressing what you feel. Or let go of the negativity you are feeling around the situation. It serves absolutely no definite purpose. All it will give you is powerful negativity in your life.

Acceptance

When negativity arises, learn to accept the things about you which have allowed them to rise to the surface. It is a part of your story, not one that has to run on forever. Once you practice accepting your thoughts, emotions, and reactions to things, please take the next step and start to notice the catalysts to these feelings as they come up in your mind. Seeing the entrance of all negative emotions will allow you to stop yourself from creating them in the first place.

An honest acceptance of all things, people, situations, actions, and feelings about them will eliminate negative emotions. You are living in this moment and conscious of your experience, and that will allow you to function without judgment and resistance to your life as it is. Negativity has no chance to be created in your life.

“Protect your enthusiasm from the negativity of others.”- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“I think we manifest the very thing we put out. If you’re putting out negativity, you will retrieve that same sentiment. If you emanate joy, it comes back to you.”- Robin Wright.

“There are so many great things in life; why dwell on negativity?”- Zendaya.