Being in the Moment

You might have often heard about just being in the moment and everything will be easy after that. But what the heck being in the moment mean anyways? And how can you use it in your daily life. More importantly how can you use it to deal with the difficult and challenging times.

First of all it is very important to note that in most situations the difficulties are coming from our own imaginations and our own incessant thinking about a problem and not from the life situation itself. We see people suffering and in pain while dealing with certain life situations and we immediately project ourselves in that situation. We start imagining what would we have done and start role playing. That is a natural outcome of any sensory inputs that we receive. It is the power of association at work. More we are digesting the negativity more we are going to be affected by it personally. As we are already imagining our future. If we have to imagine something then we should rather imagine something positive. That is why goals may play such an important role in keeping with the positive direction but I digress. So it is never very helpful to be chewing on disasters, hysteria or any kind of dramatic bad news. We are receiving these from all different sources and storing them to reenact them in some future time. The faculty of our mind is very powerful and it can be used to create positive and fulfilling things or negative and damaging things. What we think becomes reality.

Lao Tzu once said-

“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” ― Lao Tzu

So how do we stop ourselves when we are faced with a barrage of negative thoughts and negative news. It is easy to be positive when only positive things are happening to you. But if you have lost your job and money is drying up and the relationship is crumbling then how you can still feel positive? It seems so hard and daunting, isn’t it? Well that is when ‘Being in the Moment’ really helps.

The fact is that you don’t have to solve all the problems in an instant. They didn’t appear in an instant and they wouldn’t go away so quickly. Wouldn’t it be nice though? But that is not the reality. The problem really gets worse when we start to complicate it with more thinking and less solution oriented action. If you just remain focused on doing the best you can do in a given moment and tackle the issue that confront you at that time. There is no emotion or pain involved and you get busy with what is present. There is no expectation from future and there is no fear from the past. There is only dealing with the situation by being in the moment. So when you are being in the moment you are not making plans for the future and you are not running scared from the past. You are simply responding to the present with the best of your abilities. This changes all the dynamics and brings out the best from you as you are not being afraid and there is a sense of integrity in your response. An incredible thing happens and you are not beset with troubles but shining in your positive response. And slowly situations start to turn. First a little trickle and then a little more and very soon the flood gates of happiness open up. This is all just being in the moment. I am reminded of this great inspiring quote from Guillaume Apollinaire-

“Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” ― Guillaume Apollinaire

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