Living In The
Now....Letting Go of Yesterday
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Eckhart Tolle writes of the advantages of living in the present. Reading his book, "The Power of Now" explains how each of us has a tendency to live our lives in thoughts of the past and future. We spend very little time in the present. He talks of the stress we put on ourselves as we constantly go over events in our past and hope for a better or worry about a worse future. He discusses at length, the role of the egoic mind and how it is mistaken for our true selves. He challenges us to attempt to shut down our egoic, busy mind and think of nothing: just be. Attempt to be totally in the moment. I highly recommend his books.
Our minds produce on the average about 65,000 thoughts per day. It would be difficult to control each and every one of them. If one can slow things down and for a bit, empty the mind of thought. This will bring about a peace and presence that cannot be achieved while the mind is at full throttle. Try a little meditation. Find a quiet or peaceful place. Take a little of time to just be quiet. Breathe. Concentrate on your breathing. Try not to think of anything else. Become aware of your senses. Become in tune with your surroundings. Listen to the quiet. Feel a light wind on your skin. Feel your breathing, feel your lungs expand as the oxygen absorbs into your body. Look at your hand. Study the skin and the details. Lightly touch it and feel. Close your eyes and listen. Think of nothing. Take long deep breathes exhaling slowly. You are in the moment. There is no worry. There is no problem this very second. You are here. You are now. Feel your body relax and let the tension go away. Visualize the energy that is you radiating from you and back to you. Feel the energy in your body. Take a few more moments to keep your mind clear. When you open your eyes, allow the peacefulness to stay with you as long as you can. Slow down the thought process and only allow thoughts that are relevant to the moment. Do you best to maintain a slower, more relevant thought process. Through out your day, find time to center yourself in the moment. You will find it's a good way to help with stress. Learning to be present guarantees that you are actually experiencing life. All things happen in the present. Don't miss out.
Spending a lifetime of regret or anger over past occurrences or worrying about the future takes you out of the life you have now. These are the good ol days. Life is now. Send out your positive energy in the present, the future will take care of itself. It will happen whether you worry or not. That is not to say you should not plan or prepare for the future, but don't spend all your time concentrating on it. There is plenty of life to be lived in the here and now.
There is a story of a man named Joe who always wanted to have a cabin on the lake. He worked a tedious job where he just thought about some day. Some day I will retire in a cabin on the lake. I will sit on my porch and enjoy the peace of the sunset. His life went by. He worked day after day at this job he dreaded. He never made friends. Others would reach out to him, but why bother, some day he would have his place on the lake and never have to see these people or this place again. He lived in a one bedroom apartment in a bad neighborhood most of his adult life because he didn't;t want to take away from his cabin dream by spending the money on a nice place near work. He was not a bad looking guy and there were some women who tried to connect with him, but he had no part of it. These women would just deter him from his goal, sunsets on the porch of his lakefront cabin. No vacations, no social life, just this idea of some day. After thirty five years he finally went out to find his dream cabin. After several trips to the country, he found his dream home. He put a large down payment and bought it. He could not quit his job for at least another ten years in order to pay off the cabin and save for retirement. He worked seven days a week in order to sock away as much money as possible. 45 years of hell, but it is finally time to retire in his cabin. The cabin has not been cared for in the last 10 years so it needs much repair and maintenance. His first six months on the lake were nothing more than hard work getting the place in shape. New roof, floors, plumbing and electrical work, new paint, clearing the weeds and getting rid of the varmints. The work is done. The cabin is complete. He sits down on his porch to watch his first sunset. All the time he spent working, never watched the sunset for the pure enjoyment of it. As the sun slowly dropped, he thought how nice it would be to have someone to share this with. It is kind of lonely. Even a visitor would be welcome, but no friends. Never the less, he is here now, the sun is nearly ready to set. He looks forward to many such sunsets as he feels a pain in his arm, then his chest. A fatal heart attack struck two minutes before sunset. So long Joe.
Don't live a life like Joe. Bring joy and happiness into each day. Allow the abundance in the Universe into your life, Live in the now!
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