Time is a paradox, stretching between a “past” and “future” that have no reality except in our own minds. The idea of time is a convention of thought and language, a social agreement. We only have this moment.
Cats are great to watch as they are only in the present moment.
What you did this morning or yesterday or last year has now vanished, except in your mind. What is to come is only a dream. We only have this moment.
Are you aware that your sense of time passing is only an array of impressions and memories happening in the present moment ?
Regrets of the past are present impressions happening now. Future anxieties have no reality except in your mind, in this moment, as images, sounds and feelings. In other words, past and future are happening now as you create them.
Your ability to refocus attention back to the present moment grows with practise. Someday you will do this and it will seem quite natural. Knowing this and doing it isn’t necessarily the same thing.
Whenever you have a problem, it involves something past or future. You keep problems alive in your present mind by giving them your attention and energy, letting them live rent free in your head. The past and future are nothing more than a habit of the mind that is your mind. As you notice what you’re doing more and more, you can overcome this habit as you might any other.
The Law of Presence is like a time machine that lightens the mind, liberates you from anxiety, and gives birth to a new way of living. In order to have presence, you have to be present and remember where you are and when you are; then you will know who you are. Presence teaches that what you do today is important, because you are trading a day of your life for it. We can let this law sweep you to a state clarity, simplicity and inner peace.
Embrace this moment, put one foot in front of the other, and handle what’s in front of you. Because no matter where your mind may roam, your body always remains here and now. When in haste, rest in the present. Take a deep breath, and come back to here and now.
Being in the present is such a complete feeling of being at home, foe instance when exercising, don’t think of what you are doing next, or having for tea, what you are going to wear on Saturday night. Beware of the breath, be aware of what muscles are being used, how does the muscles feel being stretched, then when they relax.
We lead such busy lives, but we can still be in the present moment.
Those of us who like to skip steps can learn to rest in the present moment. Those of us who tend to take shortcuts to get where we’re going can rest easy, take a deep breath, and remember that only now exists. Those of us who get confused or impatient, who think a lot about future plans, can begin to recognize that plans are thoughts, and thought! change. They only exist in time, and time only exists in the mind. Applying the Law of the Present Moment takes practice, as does any law. We may feel ourselves getting tense, worried, or upset about a thought of past or future as it passes through our mind; then we remember where we are—here and now; then we forget. Then we remember more and more, so that the quality of our present moments improves.