How do you stay in the present moment?

How do you stay in the present moment?

How can we ever be anywhere/anywhen else?
All there is, is Now!

nameless wrote:

How do you stay in the present moment?

How can we ever be anywhere/anywhen else?
All there is, is Now!

Personally, I think the new teachings of “being present” or “in the now” has lost their original intent and purpose and are now looked at in an imbalanced way by many.
Everyone knows instinctively what it means to be present in what you are doing and everyone knows the beauty and benefit of that but there most certainly is, a past and there most certainly is a future in this world or level of consciousness we live in.
We live in a reality where “time” exist. We live in a reality where “we” exist.
Time exists to us and is as real as anything else is real.
At some level, I am sure” time” has no purpose and does not exist but we are not there.
We are here and here, there is a past, a present and a future. All are significant and purposeful.

(In answer to your question, nameless,.........we "can" be "everywhere" and when we rise to that level, time will no longer exist or serve us anymore.)

Those are my thoughts anyways.

Peace and Blessings,
WhiteShaman

For me being in the present moment, is one i continuously struggle to achieve, thoughts get in the way. I know there is a past & a future that is obvious lol but i feel that the past was grade school and the future is college, the present is like a high school. I won't learn things in college until i first learn the things i need to in high school. But how many times do any of us continuously stay in the present moment and is it possible? I set goals for myself to be more spiritual, loving, compassionate, and to make better decisions down the road. This is a future event that i put my attention on i need to visualize this so that i can see it in my minds eye. This helps to bring it about. Now is this the right way to live life i can't answer that, should i just forget about any goals i have and dwell on the past of what i should of or could have have done? The present is where it starts for me and as long as i continue to progress along these expectations i hold for myself, then i will eventually achieve the goal i set out for myself. Now this goal i have does not come from just everyday ordinary things it is on a higher level my guidance that lets me know where and what i need to do to complete this life.

Many Blessings

What is meant by "present moment/being present/In the now" does it mean we have come so far, and what we have learnt or achieved we are now contented with, and are happy to remain just so. Or does it refer to what is happening in our life at this very moment, whatever that may be, if this is the case, we have to move on, because life doesnt stand still, life carries on.

It seems to mean something different to many people. To me it means being fluid and letting life happen while acting when inspired to act or changing when inspired to change or doing nothing when inspired to do nothing.
It is a way of trusting the oneness of all things and living like you realize you are interconnected to everything.
If life does not stand still, you move on with it because you are present and aware that it is moving on.
So if your not present, then you are unaware as to what the interconnectiveness of the universe is doing and how you fit into it all.
That’s what it means to me.
Peace and Blessings,
WhiteShaman

WhiteShaman wrote:

nameless wrote:

How do you stay in the present moment?

How can we ever be anywhere/anywhen else?
All there is, is Now!

Personally, I think the new teachings of “being present” or “in the now” has lost their original intent and purpose and are now looked at in an imbalanced way by many.

I haven't a clue to what you refer by "the new teachings".
My experience is that I am never 'there' of 'then'. It is always Here! Now!

Everyone knows instinctively what it means to be present in what you are doing and everyone knows the beauty and benefit of that

Nope. I don't think that you can speak for everyone, and the evidence disputes your broad brushed assertion.

but there most certainly is, a past and there most certainly is a future in this world or level of consciousness we live in.

Perhaps "most certainly" for you...
'Memories' (in the Now!) do not equal 'the past' (although it appears so).
Science doesn't agree with you, by the way.
All moments of existence are synchronous, happening at the same moment.

"The Laws of Nature are not rules controlling the metamorphosis of what is, into what will be. They are descriptions of patterns that exist, all at once, in the whole Tapestry... The four-dimensional space-time manifold displays all eternity at once." - Genius; the Life and Science of Richard Feynman

And "we" don't live in a "level of Consciousness". "We" are all unique Conscious Perspectives. There is no general "level of consciousness we live in".

We live in a reality where “time” exist.

Sometimes this 'reality' is timeless.
You don't get to define 'reality' for anyone but yourself.
You know, I'd rather accept your expertise regarding your own perceptions of Reality. Adding the 'we' does not add weight to your statements, just error. I can accept youPerspective as valid, for you, in that context. Like everyone else.
Your 'reality' is that which YOU perceive.

We live in a reality where “we” exist.

Again you speak for everyone.
Ignoring that, I'll say that everything exists!

Time exists to us and is as real as anything else is real.

I will accept that that is how you feel and what you believe.

At some level, I am sure” time” has no purpose and does not exist but we are not there.
We are here and here, there is a past, a present and a future. All are significant and purposeful.

It is not uncommon for people to think/believe that the way they personally perceive reality is the same for all. It is not so, but that is the ego for you.

(In answer to your question, nameless,.........we "can" be "everywhere" and when we rise to that level, time will no longer exist or serve us anymore.)

My question was;
How can we ever be anywhere/anywhen else but Here! Now!!?
Has nothing to do with "everywhere" or "rising to levels"...
It was a clear question. At what moment in your life could you say that "I am not Here, I am 'there'?" or "I am in the past!" or "I am in the future!" All we can be is Here, Now!

Vanilla2 wrote:What is meant by "present moment/being present/In the now" does it mean we have come so far, and what we have learnt or achieved we are now contented with, and are happy to remain just so. Or does it refer to what is happening in our life at this very moment, whatever that may be, if this is the case, we have to move on, because life doesnt stand still, life carries on.

Whatever you perceive, you perceive it Now! and Now! and Now!
Percepts = moments! Every unique moment = one unique percept, Now! and Now! and Now!

Perhaps being told the "Now - Now - Now" may point the problem and only will point the problem, it is not easy to understand this term of living in the moment and even harder to express how to live and believe it because surely we all take of business to an extent so therefore we all live in the moment eventually but the press about it is that eventually unless we have a clear and focused mind then we would entangle otherwise eventually to other things in the moment only to draw up a variation for the mind of of the mind's handle, but really, this topic is about the teaching of a 'clear and focused mind' and everything else that is taught about the how to of it is not the better variation then 'the clear and focused mind', and I understand what WhiteShaman is saying here that there is difficulty to living in the 'here in and now' by declaring on new teachings because life carries on automatically - that living in the here and now is a sustain of the present before the past and future much like having the great main value right now before all time and existance.

And yet the now,now,now came from, and are the effect of the past and also will go to and be the cause of the future.
Living in the now, in my reality, is deeply interconnected to the past and the future and deeply interconnected to everything.
That’s all I’m saying.
I know it is believed that they all exist at once, the past, present and future but not in my reality. I live in time and when I am living in the now, I am reminiscing about the past and looking forward to the future so that I can co-create a better now, now, now for you and for me and for all creation.
Peace,
WhiteShaman

I am excited sometimes about my past experiences, I have feeling to do better than then so I keep them with me.
I agree that I must live in the now right now but only when it is expedient to do so and I believe humans can be good at that unless they are retarded.
But unless not living in the Now and Now takes us in trouble or prevents good happen then I have no problem with not living on Now at the times.

Love the blue baby Vibe of Smooth! It reminds me of The Blue Buddha!
What is it a picture of?
Peace,
WhiteShaman

Woah, I admire how you have written with authority, I am sure more worth for you is at hand WhiteShaman.

My picture is borrowed - it is my yearn because it is so good to me here that I would have liked to expressed myself fully yearning what I honestly yearn that a Hindu compassionate radiant prow boy of a avatar excites me so much that I feel it is proper for serious attitude to take fold, that's all. My demand for myself is shown fuller now.. So that anything reasonable spiritual I like my own and I am afraid of the unreasonable taking the owns and I know the reasonable taking the owns is more powerful than that so why should I fear, right?

There is room for all of to have - a - share

I'm having a hard time understanding what you wrote my poetic friend.
Could you please explain another way the significance of the Hindu baby and what it is you yearn?
Peace,
WhiteShaman

Yes. The baby is a good baby. Yes. The baby is a spiritual baby. Yes. The baby is a God baby. Enjoyed so I could not have sought for a better avatar by now. I wanted to impress so that the bargain would do good overall by who I am to all this wherabout and all this interpreting.

Please forgive me again my friend but I am determined to really understand the meaning of your words.
For some reason, I have a hard time with that.
I am sure that it is nothing more than how you use the english language compared to how I do.
Please reword this statement so I can understand better your meaning:

I wanted to impress so that the bargain would do good overall by who I am to all this wherabout and all this interpreting.

Thank you and I am sorry to be such a pest, but I don’t want to pretend like I understand what you wrote when I don’t.
Peace,
WhiteShaman

I just wanted to say great Avatar Vibe of Smooth, we add a picture we are drawn to, that speaks many words of who we are & our personality. Ironic that you have added a true Avatar to the picture slot called an Avatar everything happens for a reason, how Amazing is that.

Many Blessings

Spirit-Being wrote:...everything happens for a reason...

That is very debateable, unless, of course, you are strictly refering to your own experiences/life.

Vibe Of Smooth wrote:Perhaps being told the "Now - Now - Now" may point the problem....

Is english not your primary language?

To Live in the moment is about embracing this very moment in a Celebrating , Loving, and Grateful way. Life then becomes a gift, a dance, things happen, we get to see beyond the illusion of time and experience life from our Soul Self. Time is real in a way, but it is also an illusion and only life's experiences will bring us to this realization. We all get to wake up. Where we are Now is the sum total of all our past experiences that have occured in the forever Now. Those who are Now living in Love and extend this into the next moment and the next, (we are all living in Love, all existence is Love) will find a future moment to be richer than those who are demonstrating anger or some form of misery in the same way, unless they choose and are brave enough to allow this misery to move them beyond it's veil, it's illusion, and into the Loving Living Now. In the beginning of Now awareness it may be very easy to slip back into the illusion of time but a habit of Now strengthens over time and the awareness of slipping becomes near on automatic so as the Now is embraced in Love and Celebration again, the higher perception of Soul knows we exist because God loves us, that is all we need, we exist within a Divine Universe, what more can we ask for, we learn to trust in God, in the wisdom that moves through us as Soul, and this becomes lived more fully as we embrace the Now, Soul's experience is in the Eternal Now. Joy and Love are our natural state, the Eternal Now experience of Soul connects us to this Joy and Love, connects us to our Soul Self, to who we are. The Now heals our suffering. Monkey mind enters it's death throngs with a living presence of Now.

Thankyou Eckankar for the presence and support of the Living Master and to make use of the tools or gifts you gave, for introducing me to an awareness of the Dream state, the Waking Dreams, the Golden Tongued Wisdom, the Spiritual Exercises, so as to help me and others to move beyond the illusion of time and the ego, to end the suffering, to see and experience the suffering as the gift it is, to transform the suffering into a stepping stone of the Eck, the Divine Spirit, to move beyond sufferings illusion and into the reality of Love, to know who I Am, and the great pleasure recieved in this realization. And thankyou for the guidance towards the comfort that comes in the realization that Life itself is our support and sustenance, and to now have this as a living working reality in my life

Thankyou Eckhart Tolle and 'Power of Now', for helping me in my next step in that past moment where I embraced the Now, for this moment is truly special as i sit here writing about Now, in the Now. You speak the Heart of Eck (Spirit) in a practical, simple way that is of great use to those who are ready for It.

My first post with some pointers towards living effectively in the Now. A lot of really good stuff being shared by people here. Thanks.

Hello Ekman, Nice to Meet You

I think your post was very helpful, great tips i especially felt drawn to this passage.

Ekman wrote:Thankyou Eckankar for the presence and support of the Living Master and to make use of the tools or gifts you gave, for introducing me to an awareness of the Dream state, the Waking Dreams, the Golden Tongued Wisdom, the Spiritual Exercises, so as to help me and others to move beyond the illusion of time and the ego, to end the suffering, to see and experience the suffering as the gift it is, to transform the suffering into a stepping stone of the Eck, the Divine Spirit, to move beyond sufferings illusion and into the reality of Love, to know who I Am, and the great pleasure recieved in this realization. And thankyou for the guidance towards the comfort that comes in the realization that Life itself is our support and sustenance, and to now have this as a living working reality in my life

I feel its very important for all of us to understand that so many people in our lives have helped us along the way. I feel with this understanjding, Judgemental thoughts go away, and we begin to accept people for who they are, and Love Them Unconditionally. As you stated above Ekman with Absolute Gratitude to Eckankar for the presence and support of the Living Master. You have shown me that being Grateful is very Important. In the Now, i am Grateful for who i am Now & i am Grateful for all i will experience Now.

Many Blessings

Hi, Spirit Being. I would like to share with you a dream i had, that relates to much on what you have spoken.

I am in a car with four other men, we are driving along, we are all young, these young men are all dressed differently, one with a funny hat on his head, each one dresed the way they liked. They are just being themselves, accepting each other for who they are, they are clowning around, talking to each other in a carefree way, chatting on just about anything, and passing lollies around. I am both the observer and participant in this dream and I realize how other people could view these men as unusual or even wierd and could also be embarassed to be in their company but for me I am comfortable and find pleasure in their company and find it so easy to be with them, it is enjoyable. Then a thought enters my head, I want to know where a certain woman is, I want to find her, I wonder what is she doing, who is she with, will I find her.

I awoke to this dream and slowly the insight came to me on what it was letting me know. One was the pleasure found in letting others just be themselves without the judgements, and to also be ourselves, and enjoy this whole game of just Being. This was like a re-inforcement of what life has been showing me, to take it on board at a deeper level. An offering of confidence.

The other was the unconscious things in our life, like the thought of where my lady friend was, it moved me from out of the Now and away from the pleasure of the whole experience, I realized how often I indulge in these thoughts about a certain person, with hardly or not even noticing that they take one out of the Now, and the realization came that these thoughts had come from a place of fear, another reminder of how fear holds us back and how we can be so blinded to it. With this understanding I was able to let go of this fear and be more aware of it in my daily life so as to embrace the living moment.

One more thing I saw was the innocence of it all, dressed the way they enjoyed, passing lollies around and chatting about anything. We were all young and with the innocence of youth. None of them saw anything wrong about the other. No conditions being made of any kind and being put on each other. The lollies symbolised the sweetness of life when we live like this. The chatting about anything is to be open to all of life. The different dress of each one was to show we are all unique individuals. The driving of the car with it's carefree passengers, or maybe concerned free is a better description, was showing a way we can journey in life.

The spirit of gratitude is with me in the contemplating of this dream and it's message. Life once again has shown it's never-ending support towards our unfoldment of the Spiritual Beings that we are. Only a simple dream but it is often the most simplest of things in life where we find the insight to take that extra step to move ever so deeper into the Now and into embracing who we are. It's as simple as just being ourselves.

Thanyou Spirit Being for your kind and insightful reply . May the Blessings Be.

Accepting others for who they are is very Important, sometimes as people we tend to control, which i believe also stems from our fears. Have i gone through this, yes many times. Control is never the answer, we have to allow people to express their Higher Expression, but if we control, we may never allow for a certain person to Express themselves fully. Living in society amongst others, it can be quite difficult with the pressures of the world to living a certain way. Its as if swimming up river against the flow.

Ekman wrote:
The other was the unconscious things in our life, like the thought of where my lady friend was, it moved me from out of the Now and away from the pleasure of the whole experience, I realized how often I indulge in these thoughts about a certain person, with hardly or not even noticing that they take one out of the Now

I can totally relate to what you said above, i'm experiencing this Now and it is all consuming. Been working on a way to calm my mind, as to not think so much about her, Breathing Exercise helps quite a bit.

Ekman wrote:One more thing I saw was the innocence of it all, dressed the way they enjoyed, passing lollies around and chatting about anything. We were all young and with the innocence of youth. None of them saw anything wrong about the other. No conditions being made of any kind and being put on each other. The lollies symbolised the sweetness of life when we live like this. The chatting about anything is to be open to all of life. The different dress of each one was to show we are all unique individuals. The driving of the car with it's carefree passengers, or maybe concerned free is a better description, was showing a way we can journey in life.

Very good interpretation of your Dream, the Joy of Life is to feel Free, as you said "to be yourself" to enjoy every moment Life has to offer aside from all the stereo types that are created in the world. I think once a person gets past that point where they finally Express Themselves for who they are, a new awakening most likely will happen. I haven't got to that point, but i Hope to.

I myself have a difficult time being myself when i'm around a woman i really like, something i'm sure will get easier, im really shy and have a difficult time expressing what i'm feeling, without being to clingy. Writing is the best way i express myself. Writing & the Spoken Word is Freedom.

This post was Truly Helpful Ekman, after reading it i was Amazed that everything you wrote i am experiencing Now. Thanks for Sharing

Many Blessings

Hi Spirit Being, Now it is my turn to relate to much of what you have said. I have struggled over the years with the very things you have mentioned . The shyness and so forth. It is good that you have been guided to using the Breath and Writing, these same things have helped me immensely, it goes to show the Universe is working for you and you are opening to It's guidance. And thankyou so much in reminding me of Freedom. This is what I needed to be reminded of at this time in my life. The experience of freedom has been very real for me but sometimes I forget and fall back into old ways of seeing things. I want to relate a story to you that speaks of some of what you have written and how a dream and then a waking dream was used for me to make a leap in life. Another example of how the dream state works in harmony with our waking life. And what you say is so true, that these types of things do get easier.

There was a time when it would nearly be imposible for me to talk in a group or even to certain individuals and my stomach and throat would contract and sometimes my voice would come out like a strained squeak when I spoke in these situations. I new I had a problem here and so listened to the inner and outer guidance on what to do. One day while meditating I realised how my throat was rarely relaxed during these sessions. I had also read stuff written by different Masters and all of them spoke of the Heart. So in my meditations I started to not just tune into the Heart but to also focus on relaxing the throat. This is all I did for a few weeks and then when I felt I was getting somewhere with this, then the head region became involed in the meditation, around the 3rd eye region and the top of the head. When in the peace and silence of the meditation a number of options were open from here, I found these options were usually not very effective until in this peace and silence. Option one is to just remain in peace and silence and soak it in, the next option is to gently contemplate on something, like a problem and it's solution or some insight into something, chanting a sacred word also was good to do, another option is to take the meditation into an imaginary visualization, it may be a Master having a conversation with me or light surrounding me and moving through me, whatever. It can be amazing some of the insight we recieve by just imagining talking to a Master like this. This was all working fine for me but I get side-tracked and got involved in other types of meditations, jumping from this one to the next. Doing this wasn't working so well for me but I remained stubborn and kept going from one to another, even though a little voice was saying to continue with the Heart and Throat Meditation, I chose to ignore it at the time. The Universe or Life knew that I needed to continue on with this Heart and Throat Meditation, so this is what it did to get me to do this, to get me to drop my stubbornness.

A dream was given with a Master of last century in it, his name is Ramano Maharshi. He is the one of the Master's I had been reading about and also the main one that gave me the idea of being with the Heart at all times. In the dream he is laying on a couch and looking so at peace, he is cradling an old tennis ball in his hands on his lap as if giving all his love to it. I wake up wondering about the dream and what's with the tennis ball. I felt this was a significant dream, the Master, and Love, and that something in my waking life will be triggered with the apperance of a tennis ball and for me to be on the alert for this. Over the next couple of weeks I came across 7 or 8 tennis balls in the yard where I live. I knew these were from the children that used to live here but I had never realised so many were lying around the place. I found this interesting but I felt there is still more to come, then about a week after this when I'd nearly forgotten about it all, it happened, I am at a meeting with my children's teacher, at their school, and while the teacher is talking I notice that all the chairs in the room had a tennis ball under each leg to prevent the floor from being scratched, someone had cut a slit in each ball for the chair legs to fit in it, eighty or so tennis balls altogether, I knew straight away that I needed to be totally aware, a gift was going to be given this night. I listened intently on every word the teacher said, maybe some Golden Tounged Wisdom will be spoken from her on whatever it is I needed to know, but nothing was coming, I listened intently on what my partner also had to say but nothing still, and then I saw it, behind the teachers head on a large blackboard was a large drawing of a human Heart drawn in chalk and then next to that was a drawing of a throat. There was no doubt for me then that the Heart and Throat Meditation was the most useful meditation for me to be involved in at this time of my life. This meditation comes with me throughout my day and not just while I'm in my chair meditating. And I believe that also through this meditation came the breakthrough for me to comfortably talk while a group of people are listening, no more squeaky voice. And, yes, you are right, these type of things do get easier. Everything is available for each of us to take the next step, all we have to do is be open to it and make it available. As you have found with the Breath and Writing, Spirit Being.

The new Awakening you speak of Spirit Being is happening Now. We open to Life gradually and Life opens to us gradually. The breakthrough comes when we stop seeking and waiting, this is when Life is able to reveal itself in greater splendor to us. The space that is filled by seeking and waiting needs to be emptied then Life fills this void with it's magic, it's a filfulling emptiness, one way to empty this space and let life flow is to live as it is already so. No more seeking and waiting. Notice the Masters use words like, Emptiness, Nothingness, Stillness to describe the state of Being that they are living, they have Emptied themselves, and everyone of them says it's All Here Now, they don't wait for some future time to experience the majesty of Life.

Here are some words of Osho from an article titled "Say Yes to Life"-- The mind is telling you continuously, "Postpone it. There is always tomorrow". And the tomorrow never comes. The person who postpones any good act for tomorrow is postponing it forever; he will never be able to do it. If you postpone it to-day you are learning a habit of postponing. To-day you say, "Tomorrow". You are creating a pattern of life, a style of life. Tomorrow will come as to-day again and the habit will say, "We will do it tomorrow.
The mind always goes on giving you great promises, but tomorrow, not today. And tomorrow never comes. And slowly, hoping becomes your very life, just hoping and waiting, and death comes--- and no hope is ever fulfilled. Osho

Every difficult time we come across is an opportunity to move beyond ourselves. To break through our barriers, move beyond them. And we feel the Freedom each time we do this, , we have dropped excess baggage, , phony beleifs. Much of humanity today is under the illusion that they need another person to be happy. When a lover leaves us or does not give us the attention we seek, we feel hurt, and if we become identified with the pain and live it regularly we are then attached to the belief that we need that person for our happiness. While we continually live pain we attract pain. One of the most difficult experiences in my life led me to breaking through this barrier and the result was immense Freedom and a very valuable lesson in Unconditional Love. Thankyou again Spirit Being for this reminder and the sharing of the wisdom that is moving through you and for the opportunity to share.

May the Blessings Be.