The past has gone, the future is still to come, so the present—the here-and-now—is all we have. This is our topic for today.
The willingness and ability to live fully in the now elude many people. While eating your appetizer, don’t be concerned with dessert. While reading a book, notice where your thoughts are. While on vacation, be there instead of thinking about what should have been done and what has to be done when returning home. Don’t let the elusive present moment get used up by thoughts that aren’t in the here and now.
There’s an irony to this habit of having your mind drift to other times and other places. You can only drift off in the now, because now is all you ever get. So drifting off is a way of using up your present moments. You do indeed have a past, but not now! And yes, you have a future, but not now! And you can consume your now with thoughts of “then” and “maybe”, but that will keep you from the inner peace and success you could experience.
It’s doubtful that the other creatures waste the present in thoughts of past and future. A beaver only does beaver, and he does it right in the moment. He doesn’t spend his days wishing he were a young beaver again, or ruminating over the fact that his beaver siblings received more attention, or his father beaver ran off with a younger beaver when he was growing up. He’s always in the now. We can learn much from God’s creatures about enjoying the present moment rather than using it up consumed with guilt over the past or worry about the future. Practice living in the moment, and refuse to allow any thoughts based on your past to define you.
Stop and take notice of all that’s in your immediate space—the people, creatures, vegetation, cloud formations, building designs, everything. Stay in the present by meditating and getting closer to the ultimate now . . . God.
Think about this. God will not be doing anything different one hour from now than God is doing now. And God is not doing anything different now from what God was doing a thousand years ago. The truth is that you can only come to know God if you’re willing to be at peace in the present moment.
Earlier, in Day 8, I discussed how meditation is a way of making conscious contact with God. Here, I would like to let you in on a sublime secret that I learned from one of my most influential teachers: You will only come to truly know God when you give up the past and the future in your mind and merge totally into the now, because God is always here now.
Very few people understand and live this principle, largely because of their conditioning and unwillingness to train their minds in present-moment living. That’s one of the reasons why I sometimes say that “It’s never crowded along the extra mile.” On the extra mile, choosing inner peace and attracting success into your life while living in the present moment become a way of being.
So, make the commitment to live joyfully in the moment. Stop dreaming about the future and get back to the only thing any of us have: now. Decide to live fully in the present, withdrawing attention from past and future. Your desire for inspiration activates the world of Spirit from which you came. Your imagined future, the stuff of goals, is an unnecessary way of squandering the present moment. Be Here Now is more than a great book title by Ram Dass, it’s the essence of inspiration. Being in the now is the way to remove anxiety, stress, and even some illnesses.
As I sit here writing, I can daydream all I want about completing this book, but in reality, all I can really do (which is precisely what I am doing) is listen to my inner voice, offer a matching vibration to those inner pleadings, and feel the joy of allowing the thoughts to come through me onto the pages. The “goal” has been suspended in favor of being here now, living out what I’m being directed by my “Senior Partner” to do. The end result takes care of itself, particularly since I see the end result in my mind, and I use my present moments in harmony with that vision.
I recommend that you find a way to transform your past and remind yourself as you do that you’re transforming any and all beliefs that you’ve used as labels or indicators of your limitations. To empower yourself in the present, replace all that with a knowing that you’re not what you’ve done, what you’ve been, how others have taught you, or what has been done to you—instead you’re a part of the beloved, connected now and always to your source, and therefore connected to the unlimited power of the beloved. You can be all things at any present moment in your life.