"If you want to experience the joyous ecstasy that life offers, there is one commitment that is absolutely fundamental: the commitment to live in the moment. With that commitment as your guiding focus, whatever you do in your daily life is part of your transformational process. Your commitment to living in the moment becomes your vehicle for spiritual growth." -Amrit Desai
It's been said by many folks throughout the years, that true liberation; freedom and happiness, arises from the simple (yet complicated) act of being present fully to the moment. Now. No– now. Yes, now. Wait.. Now... Ugh. How can anyone get anything done by thinking "now" all the time??
Yes. Ok. That's my sarcastic side showing it hasn't been liberated yet.
Though, there is some truth in my satire. I do sometimes struggle with the notion of now-ness. I think this only happens to people, like me, who for many previous years, have lived so far up their egos ass that the idea of "now" was always something foreign and elusive... Something only "rich people and monks" mastered. "I'm too busy thinking and worrying to try to live Now... Sheesh!" <-- limited thinking there, hey!?
Even after my 7-8 years of being introduced, and my 3-4 years of studying the concepts of enlightenment, living fully, in the moment, I still struggle with this shit... I mean chit. (Click it for a definition, may as well learn some Sanskrit while you're here. I only know about 4 words, tho, so lower your expectations. (Link to previous post)
I think perhaps my tendency of A.D.D gets in the way of my living fully In the moment– every moment. Like, to live in the moment, am I suppose to do everything my mind comes up with in every moment?! Because ain't nobody got time for dat!
Try to remain present to this slightly exaggerated, yet not far fetched, example of my mind:
Wake up... First thought: but just 5 more hours?! *boom: can't do that one*
Ok. I'm up. Mm nice day. Smile.
*typical first step: do what the more energetic 4 year old comes up with* and make sure there's a lemon water in my immediate future.
So far so good.
Ok. Now. After my baby gurus ideas, lemon water, healthy smoothie time and my brain has been nourished; now what?
Well, are you ready?, we could: go for a walk, yoga, clean the house, buy groceries, work, study yoga or photography, chat with a friend, check Facebook, finish that painting I started, work on those books/films/blogs/articles/
All of these thoughts and more can arise in the matter of 8 seconds.
How do we really know how we can live in the moment with so much possibly?!?
I know intellectually, that to figure out our moment of true living we must quiet the mind and let the heart guide. But how the heck do we really DO that? When there's so much cleaning and eating and working and reading and playing to do?!
Yoga classes with instructors are a beautiful opportunity to shut up the thinking and open to the moment-- too bad I couldn't stay in one forever- all day every day.
A first step in this might be to stop the idea that all this now-ness is going to happen in my life sometime in the future, later, when I "figure it out". What a mind trap and happiness thief THAT kind of thinking is!
When things get stressful in my life, I always imagine myself sitting atop a warm mountain, looking down towards all the busyness of being human and smiling at not having to be apart of it anymore. That's what some people may call a "spiritual cop out"... But what if is purposeful for some people? Some people Keeping their vibrations above the bustle of it all may just be what the universe needs (because this same person may go insane and only stress the universe out by trying to "be" human and keep up with whatever we all sometimes feel we're keeping up with.) I definitely have mountain-top monk envy.
My intention at this point in my life is to figure out how to live fully in the now-ness of the moment, still get stuff done, create and grow, and be a useful human being.
I am inspired by (and maybe a lil jealous of) people who seem to have their fully-present-moments figured out. Their lives seem to just flow naturally, in sync with the energy flow. It's such a good thing. I am grateful that there are a growing number of people here who can do this living-as-a-functioning-human thing. Maybe someday I'll master this too.
Care to share your secrets and wisdoms?
How do you live fully present in your moments? (Without being overwhelmed by limitless possibility?)
(Next up: surrender, wtf is that about?)
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