Living in the Present

What does it mean to live in the present... where do I begin?


It is my view that to live in the present means that our awareness is always on the here and now. We are neither thinking of the past nor worrying about the future. Some schools of thought go as far as to say that the past and future are illusions, they don’t exist, are only a concept. Whoa! That is mind boggling but it would seem to be in keeping with the saying "tomorrow never comes”.

How often do we worry about things that have not yet come? My question is - will they even happen? Isn't it only our perception that future events will occur the way we imagine them to? How much time is spent on this stressful and potentially destructive pasttime? How often do we look backwards to our past mistakes, reliving events in our mind, what we could have done differently, "shoulda, woulda, coulda...yada yada yada."

I'm not saying we shouldn't reflect for learning purposes but more accurately closer to my belief would be the question I pose to you - were they really mistakes? I love this all encompassing saying "everything is as it should be". Were we not given obstacles and stumbling blocks but for a reason - for our teachings? Ah, the beautiful complexity of life!

I propose, when something happens that you perceive to be a "mistake" or something has gone "wrong" in your life that you RECOGNIZE it in the PRESENT. Rather that look backwards I propose that we deal fully with it in the present. stop... assess... find the lesson or message in it... smile... move on... don't dwell

Living in the present, means to accept your life as it is now, not as how you wish it would have been. When it comes to past "mistakes" living in the present is about acceptance and forgiveness. About forgiving yourself in the now for any perceived mistakes made, thus allowing peace of mind, heart and soul.

I am not suggesting lack of accountability, I suggest we deal with things as they happen. When we deal with things as they happen we find closure. With closure we find no need to rehash old events. We all know what it feels like to be stressed. I rhink if we can relate stress to lack of closure then we can combat stress, and we all know that stress has a detrimental impact on our health.

Similarly is worrying about the future. If we don't live in the present then we are in essence giving up our personal control. When we worry about the future we are living somewhere that doesn’t exist, it hasn’t happened yet. If we want control over our own life then the only place we can do this is in the present. Important to mention here is our need to accept our life as it is.
Why were we given the ability to look backwards at the past as well as the conception to predict the future? Human nature is so complex, this is beyond my scope today.

I read somewhere that the reason we have such a hard time living in the present is because we have difficulty quieting our mind, our thoughts. We constantly talk to ourselves, thus how can we really listen?
Is it infantile to suggest that we stay firmly planted in reality? I mean, when our thoughts are constantly firing, when we are more in our mind than in the present - aren't we more in a place of conceptualization? Balance is key I suppose, just enough conceptualization to allow creativity but also enough reality to ground us in the here and now.

Just this year I got 2 tattoos referring to balance. My Yin Yang tattoo I had put on my inner wrist. I choose this visual location so as to remind myself daily to recognize the balance in everything, the constant flow of harmony.

The best advice I can offer about living in the present is what most holistic teachers call practicing mindfulness. This means perpetual awareness. Being constantly aware of what we are doing, saying, feeling, being. An example is when doing the dishes or hammering a nail - feel the dish water, hear the slam of the hammer. Don't busy your mind with what else needs to be done or that phone call that needs to be made.

Live in each and moment!


Namaste