The Concept of 'The Now' - Living in The Now

Written by Adrian Newington

Unfortunately, or fortunately, this way of thinking is only ever really understood when we suffer something like a terrible grief; a broken heart, or an awakening to a very bad choice that may have brought terrible consequences upon us. Even in the moment of doing a thing that can bring us grief, we can most probably be in no pain at all. We could even enjoy it very much. The pain comes when we dwell on the past. So by staying in the present, you allow yourself the right to be peaceful. You allow yourself a chance to gain a reserve of strength to sustain you through any unresolved aspect of your situation.

If you are believing of the fact that your pain can truly help you in the process of finding a new direction, then the pain itself can then be seen to be serving you. From this, Despair can be transformed into Hope, so by acknowledging the need for change, we can let go of the past and concentrate on finding

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our peace. We will now be assured of finding that peace in "THE NOW".

PEACE WITHIN:

To stay available to the option of peace requires Courage since the Ego will try to take you away from any prompting of anxiety or pain you may be feeling. As you see that Ego thinking will only give you a choice for the immediate pain you are suffering, you will become aware that any option brought about to bring you external relief shall only be a temporary measure. Your greatest peace will be found within, and because it is YOUR peace, it is always available whenever you need it. It takes courage to find it, and it takes courage to call on it.

I have learnt to live my life as a continuing series of packets of time. Since through my humanness, I cannot live 'perfectly' in the moment, I have to live in time. Therefore, I choose to live with a limited past and a limited future. Some people manage to live a day at a time, and if your lifestyle can support it, that's good. For myself, and at the time of writing this book, my lifestyle concerns itself with about a week. A week for me is good. I have commitments and obligations and it works well for me. Beyond that, I must still. however. remain flexible and open to changing circumstances. I remain aware.

Staying in "THE NOW" also helps to drop the emotional baggage that we cart around with us so much. By giving yourself the opportunity to experience the peace of the present, you will find yourself being able to gently release futile feelings the likes of blame and guilt. To do this, will then allow insights of understanding to filter into your mind to dissolve hurt, anxiety, and other crippling emotions which stop you acting to your truest feelings.

SOME EVERYDAY EXAMPLES:

In regard to projection outside the topic of sorrow, I offer this story to provide a balance to the concept of "THE NOW". The wife of a friend of mine was under threat of loosing her job through staff cuts in hard financial times. After reviews and recommendations, the outcome would eventually be known with some inevitable casualties. After the staff assessments, my friend came to tell me how his wife had been fortunate in keeping her job. However, his face still showed concern. I asked him why and he replied somberly that "her job was only safe for a year."

Even though the past few days had given him good reason to be concerned, he still managed to remove himself from being in a happy state from his wife's good news. He immediately projected, without awareness, a whole year ahead. He had leapt over 365 days of security to be with the pain of a retrenchment that might never eventuate. There was no awareness that his behavior was normal, justified, or otherwise. There was simply no awareness. His actions were sympathetic of his thinking, his thinking was guided by his Ego, and his choice brought him pain.

Once again, by looking at Ego thinking based on fear, it wanted him not to bear any pain of the job loss, so it projected him to the future in an attempt to find answers to a non-existent problem. It found none and brought him back with a burden.

The problem lies when we project without limitation, but what is even more devastating is to project without awareness. When we project and don't realise it, when we live in dream world, we are missing the healing peace of the present. To dream "If only" thoughts are a waste of energy since your thinking will not change the past. Similarly, when we worry over an event that we know is to come upon us, we tend to circulate the event around-and-around inside our minds without producing any positive output. We draw no conclusions and we make no plans; we end up waiting for the arrival of pain (which very often never eventuates) as we dwell on how we are going to cope. We, in effect, bring extra pain upon ourselves through our own choice of behavior.

How painful it would be to know what our future is. The past is bad enough as it lasciviously tries to keep the hurt alive through a constant re-staging of the original drama.