The square of being Present is our first stopping point in this new world. It explains the simple, but incredibly life-changing, idea of being in the Present moment; and this is probably the most important thing we can do. Being Present means various things to various people and is common to many philosophical approaches, but can be summed up as:
Now although this sounds quite philosophical there is a much simpler and more practical truth to it, as we can spend a lot of time planning for the future, but very often the future doesn’t work out in the way we expected.
As I’m writing in 2013, we’ve just had both the Mayan prediction of the end of the world (didn’t happen) and a potentially close brush with a huge Earth-destroying asteroid 2012 DA14 (didn’t happen either).
However, if either of these apocalyptic events had occurred, or to use a more feasible possibility e.g. being knocked down by a bus or car, then how important would next month’s sales meeting/exam/date/court case/operation be? And how important would the ‘now’ that we have be?
Clearly the answer is that next month’s events are irrelevant and the ‘now’ becomes intensely and immeasurably important.
And this seems to be the problem with humans and the Present; we are so rarely ‘in’ it. Instead, we are constantly thinking about other things: what might happen next, where we’d rather be, what we’d rather have, judging if something is good or bad, right or wrong and so on. In fact, the ELFs (Excellences of Limited Function) are totally about not being Present to what ‘is’ and instead being in some other version of reality.
And yet the Present is all there is…
Write down your answers to the following questions.
There are moments when we are in touch with the Present, for example being in love, having a newborn baby, when we, or a loved one, have recovered from a serious illness, or escaped from a crisis or accident.
If you’ve experienced those kinds of extraordinary moments, you may have had the sense that you couldn’t quite work out how other people seemed to be beavering away as normal. Somehow they were still getting wrapped up in the mundane daily stuff of life, unaware of the importance of the events unfolding in your life.
It’s also funny how quite a few of these examples of being Present are as a result of escaping from dreadful situations. It’s almost as though these moments are a wake-up call to make us remember what’s really important.
Write down your answers to the following questions.
And so, the hard lesson seems to be that, although we instinctively know that being Present is an essential part of gaining fulfilment, happiness and satisfaction, we seem to have an almost perpetual amnesia for this truth. I’d like to suggest the idea that:
Any time you are not in the Present, then you cannot be living the life you love.
The true purpose of this book, the steps of the process you’re about to uncover, and according to many sages the true purpose of life itself, is to live a life where you are truly Present. And this is why the word NOW is given such prominence in the book’s title.
Just take a moment to imagine what that might be like to be truly Present. When each day is a continuous stream of being in each and every moment as fully as possible, and relishing how it is to be alive in this moment; when we are aware and alert to the possibility and potential of each moment.
When I’ve helped people use the steps in this book to change their lives it’s intriguing to hear what they report as being the most significant change. Although they have achieved their goals of deeper calmness, increased confidence and so on, one of the commonest things they say is that they noticed they were really Present; they noticed the little things – the way the light was that day, the way the leaves moved on the trees in the breeze, the sounds of the city – and with that there was a deep contentment.
So being Present, or heading back towards that state when you’re feeling a bit lost, is the compass heading for the rest of the book, and I’d recommend it, if you want happiness and fulfilment for the rest of your life.
And it follows that any time that you’re not in the Present you’re being distracted from what is really essential for happiness. And this takes us to our next stop on the map, the Pit.
