Mindfulness is entirely in the present moment
Rushing is a habit that forms the core of a stressful life and prevents you from getting entirely in the present moment. The image of a Zen Monk that slowly and consciously reaches the sand-garden is at odds with the Western lifestyle of hurry from one to the next, but it doesn’t have to be; Calm and deliberate actions are just as simple as learning to enjoy the present moment and your natural self.
Authentic and complete living in the present moment is common advice when it comes to a happy and peaceful life. Zenmeester Thich Nhat Hanh emphasizes the making of the present moment your house, and Eckhart Tolle tells us everything about the power of today. So how do we live like that?
An easy way to use the peace and power of today is to make a conscious attempt to stop hurrying. You will never be able to enjoy being where you are if you are always in a hurry to get somewhere else. Stop hurrying is to stop trying to escape the present moment and get somewhere else and instead to be happy about the moment you are. If you make it a habit to be in the moment, then it quickly becomes effortless and natural, and you can notice that you enjoy the simplest events in your day.
Make it a habit to be in the now, and your life will slowly reveal the beauty of simplicity. All too often we use the present moment as a ‘means to an end’ just to go to get somewhere else, and we never really come to the present moment. This is the essence of what psychologists have called the ‘hasty disease’ – never really coming home to the present moment. As Zen-Master Thich Nhat Hanh warns: “If you can’t learn to enjoy doing everyday things in life, you will never really be able to enjoy what you are looking forward to.”
Of course, there are sometimes unpleasant situations that we try to hide and forget or simply do not want to experience completely. This is mentioned in mindfulness therapy ‘Experiential Avoidance,’ and everyone does it, but it is clear from scientific studies that by completely experiencing these difficult emotions in the present moment, we can facilitate healing and restoring trauma. Stop trying to ‘hurry away’ from unpleasant feelings and to come up with right to stare at them; you may be surprised how liberating that can be and how much courage we really have as people. As Zen-teacher Brad Warner says: “That is possible always to improve your situation. But you do this by looking at it, not by running away.”
I got home, and I am complete as I am. This confirmation can be repeated every time the ambition to be somewhere else occurs, or you try to repair yourself or change something or run away – instead, you can notice that you are delighted to arrive at your final destination; It now. The only place where happiness can ever be found. That messy and chaotic thing that is called life. This is an eternal moment; it is never now, this eternity can be experienced immediately and by taking ‘time’ from the equation, you remove the majority of stress from the situation.
By slowing down, it is amazing how easy it is to start enjoying what you do. Just as magic just pass on what you do your full and undivided attention, you become ‘Zenned Out,’ making the opportunity to find charm and beauty in every detail of your life. Being in the present also means offering a calm presence to whatever you do and whoever you are. By offering your non-hurried presence to children, they are nourished and bloom. To offer you not a hurried presence to everyone is the best gift you can give. As Zen-Meester Thich Nhat Hanh says: “Presence is the biggest gift you can give.” The point of playing music is not to finish the fastest; The members of the orchestra do not compete to see who can be the fastest at the end. Timing is essential in music, not playing too fast or too slowly, makes the harmonious creative expression of the music possible. Just like in life – not by hurrying things, you can create harmony and bring a sense of grace to whatever you do. Mindful is not guarantees that life will always be great, but as Brad Warner says about today’s Zen: “The state of ambiguity – that messy, greasy, confused, confused, and terrible situation that you now live through an enlightenment itself.”
Athletes do not rush and can be incredibly calm in stressful situations. The best artists are the ones who get the hang of themselves who fully give themselves to what they do. In fact, athletes often seem as if they have ‘always in the world’ to perform their complex skills, and a sports psychologist has mentioned this state in the zone or finding the current state. Being in the zone or stream of life is a talent that you can learn that you can enable the timing of an athlete in daily life and to fully live in the never-ending unfolding of the eternity of today.
Moments where we hurry are the small moments that form our lives, and they deserve our full attention. As John Lennon ever warned: “Life is what happens while you are making other plans.” Coming home to the present requires more than just mindfulness or paying attention to what is going on; The missing ingredient in modern mindfulness exercise is nowadays the remembering of who you are. It is not enough to just stop and smell the roses, you also have to remember that you are already preferably. To remember that your deepest self transcends time and is always perfectly complete, just as it helps to relax and be satisfied wherever you are. There is a very important aspect of your being that cannot be improved with time and does not want anywhere else, except to arrive completely in the now. This can simply be called consciousness; there is always a radiant witness behind all events that, just like the air, is not influenced by the passing weather of experience. Contacting this clear and luminous nature of ourselves is the purpose of meditation and the intention of mindfulness.
Thanks to mindfulness and meditation, we can learn that satisfaction and a calm presence are available at any time, not just the important moments. This does not authorize you and to find peace in every step. Being mindful and fully living in the now awakening our confidence that the wisdom and compassion we need are always in us.
Written by Chad Foreman