Hi all, I’m back for more. Happy to see you if you are reading this. And hello to all the others – I hope the energy from my greeting reaches you and brightens your day. Today I wanted to delve into a subject that is near and dear to me, the present moment. That elusive point in time we are constantly chasing. That point in time that's always just in front, or just behind us. We’ve broached this subject before, but not from this angle.
Let me start by blowing your mind; it’s always there, waiting for you. The Moment is nothing more than the present. By that, I mean the exact moment that is now. And by that, I mean we could call it an Instant in Time if we wanted to be picky. When you let yourself be present in the moment that is your now, it will lift tons of weight off your shoulders – all the uncertainties that you either have no control over or are in the past will dissipate, but only if you let them. For me, the challenge is to see when I’m holding on to a past moment or lose faith in a future endeavor. I can stay in that state of mind for days, weeks, and sometimes months, yet still feel like I’m present in the moment and let myself believe that my thoughts – the ones attached to an outside source of anxiety – are in the present with me. It’s only when I manage to see through the veil of lies I created that I’m able to step into the now and obliterate them.
One trick I can pass along to you is to be aware when you are using words like would, could, should, or ought to. These words come from your Ego and are designed to keep you away from the Now. Some of you have reacted to this last sentence with a tightening of the chest, I’m certain. That was your Ego unsheathing its sword. If it helps us to build an identity, the Ego is also an attention seeker, whose main focus is to stay in the spotlight of your mind. There are times that may be a good and fruitful combination, but it never lasts long, because when we feel liberated, fulfilled. The Ego feels it’s in danger, that it won’t be needed anymore. It will use the woulds and shoulds on you until exhaustion, pushing you to accept the stress as reality. It promotes the stress and keeps you under its wing because if it lets you live in the Moment, the Ego becomes just one part of the equation that is you and finds itself unable to control anything. So to circle back, when you find yourself saying things like “I should have done this or that.” Or “I ought to plan ahead but I don’t know what I’ll need.” Or any variation (these terms are always steeped in negativity), stop and take a moment. Tell yourself you are here and now. When I do, each time a weight lifts from my shoulders and the fog in my mind dissolves. What I need to do next becomes clear, and I can go about my day with a smile and a lightness in my step.
And what do we do with the Ego? Sit down and have a talk, so to speak. Your Ego is but one part of you, along with the soul, the body, and the mind. When we learn to harness its power, it becomes possible to see the moment, or should I say, the moments, plural, that are waiting with open arms. And what does all this do when applied, you might ask? It creates flow in your life. It lets you follow your bliss (and when you do, things tend to fall in place). If I were to explain it in one sentence, your Ego is but one-fourth of you, don’t let it dominate.
When you find your path to the Now, you’ll see many Moments appear in your life, waiting for you to pluck them. Moments of joy, Moments of pain, Moments that will make you laugh… you get the gist. Each one merits our full attention, it’s the only way you can move on to the next one with an open heart and mind. I hope this little text will help some of you finally reach that blissful point in time where you will be neither stepping back into the past, nor trying to force the future.
That’s it, be back soon… or not. But I’ll be back! Take care.