Living in the Now

Your mind is like a TV set. It will give you pictures and
images throughout your day. Your whole day is determined in the
7 minutes that you choose what program you are going to watch.
But what channel are you watching? The gossip channel? The tired
and miserable channel? The Somebody done me wrong channel? Or
are you watching the Success Channel? Happiness channel? The
choice is yours.

Take charge of your programming. Make the decision that for the
next 7 minutes you are going to be on the ?Winners Channel?.
Turn on your Winning Potential. Look around you and see everyone
you work with as a winner. If you are at home, then see your
children as winners. See your spouse as a winner. Reinforce for
them whatever it is that they are doing that is helping them to
be a winner. Surround yourself with winners and you will be a
winner.

Next time you catch yourself thinking idly, watch the thoughts
that flow through the mind, what are they? Are you trying to
relive the past? Maybe you are reassessing past behavior or
events? Maybe you are thinking how it would have been if you
acted differently. Are you enacting past events in your mind?

Even when thinking or daydreaming about the future it is colored
by past experiences. If your past experiences of relationships
were pleasant and positive, that is how you going to think about
your future relationships. If the experiences were negative,
that is how you are going to visualize your future.

It is always the past recreating your life. You may think about
What someone told you, how someone treated you, how you did this
or that. It is always the past. You are letting the past
captivate you and influence your behavior. Reliving the past is
recreating it constantly. You are not letting change enter your
life. If the past was pleasant it is all right recreating it.

But what if it was unpleasant? Living in the present means being
aware of what is happening, what you are doing, feeling and
thinking. It is being conscious of your thoughts and trying to
have your thoughts focused on the present. In this way you look
at situations as they are, without coloring them with your past
experiences. When you live in such a way you can deal better
with whatever you are doing at the present moment.

You see things as they are, without being influenced by fears,
anger, desires or attachments. There is a story about two
friends traveling by train. One was very nervous, restless and
full of complaints the whole trip. He was impatient to reach his
destination, and disliked every moment of the trip. He did not
pay attention to his surroundings and his mind was full of
impatient, restless and grumpy thoughts.

His friend, on the other hand, enjoyed the scenery, drank a cup
of coffee, ate a piece of cake and chatted with the other
passengers. He enjoyed each moment the trip. He lived in the
present moment and made the most of it. On arrival he was fresh
and felt good. His friend, as expected, arrived exhausted, tired
and unhappy.

It is a matter of the right attitude. When the attitude towards
events and life is positive, and the present moment is used to
the utmost, life become a happy and enjoyable trip. Living in
the present means concentrating on what is happening now,
enjoying it and making the most of it. Do you know how many
opportunities are missed, because of dwelling on the past,
instead of seeing and being conscious of what is happening at
the present moment? When our mind is elsewhere, we behave like a
robot and repeat the same mistakes of the past, do the same
things, and then complain that our life is dull and not
interesting.

Wake up to the present moment and live in it. The past happened
and passed, so what is the use of reliving it? Do you enjoy it?
If it is a pleasant experience O.K., you want to relive it and
recreate it in your life. But why create the same event again,
if it is an unhappy one? Why do you repeat something that caused
you pain?

We are usually unaware of the process of thinking that is going
in us. We think the same thoughts as a matter of habit. They
come and we do not resist them. We welcome them even if they are
unpleasant. We get accustomed to our thoughts and habits even if
we do not admit it. In this way they become stronger and more
powerful. As our mind recreates our past, we find that the
present is always a mirror of the past. Then all we have to do
is complain. Weird, foolish, tragic and funny at the same time,
isn't it?

Living in the present means stopping to react impulsively. It
means you can choose how to react to people, events and
circumstances. In this way you can save yourself a lot of
inconvenience and embarrassment. Being aware of what you are
doing, make fewer mistakes and you conduct yourself better.

Concentrating on what you are doing develops your concentration;
it strengthens your attention, so that work and study are done
more quickly and efficiently. When living in the past, that is
thinking about all things that have happened, we are enslaves by
thoughts and emotions, we are not free.

On the other hand when concentrating on the present moment, on
what is happening or what we are doing right now, frees us of
unnecessary, burdensome and unpleasant thoughts. We have then
peace of mind.

Try to remember times that you were engrossed in what you were
doing, and believe me there were a lot of these moments. Did you
ever read a book forgetting everything else? Did you watch a
pleasant movie, enjoyed your hobby or ate a very delicious food?
In these moments you did not think about anything not connected
to what you were doing. You were happy, calm and content. This
is the great power and meaning of living in the present. You
also get the bonus of freedom from obsessing and unpleasant
thoughts. Remember, the present moment is very brief. It always
turns immediately into the past. The future has not happened.

After a period of time of living and being aware of the
present, a new kind of awareness develops. It is awareness of
freedom, of being alive, of happiness and joy. We come to
realize the peace, calmness, joy and freedom of thoughts that
the mystics talk about. We find out experimentally that what
they are talking about is nothing mysterious, mystical or out of
this life. You find that this is a most natural and positive
state.

Enjoy the present moment! Find the positive, good and useful in
each moment! Refuse to relive the past in your mind!
Your mind is like a TV-change the channel!
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About the author:

Dr. Donald Schnell
co- founded with Marilyn Diamond of Fit For Life, the Spiritual
Java Coaching Program, that is transforming thousands. The New
Spiritual Diet, Incredible Value, One on One coaching Amazing
Results. http://www.SpiritualJava.com or
email: Donald@SpiritualJava.com
Donald Schnell is the author of The Initiation. Free Motivational Newsletter, The Buzz http://www.spiritualjava.com

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