This is what we have:
one moment, one moment, one moment
and so on
the here and now
Everything that is ever happening is happening in this one moment.
The past we re-create by accessing our ability to remember.
The future we project by our skills of vision, imagination, planing and scheduling.
We could say that the only thing that is really undeniable real for us is whatever is happening right now, in this present moment.
Now we can easily check how much of our precious time on Earth we spend in reality and how much we are somewhere/sometime else.
Maybe for good and rational reasons, but still …
Definitely there are some beings that are more able than the rest of us to be in the here&now and ecstatically enjoy this special present moment. The children and the wise people are amongst them, and definitely the dogs and cats of our world. But they are actually no humans, right?
“Soooo …” you say: “Sounds all pretty nice & reasonable, but how are we supposed to get to this mysterious here-and-now moment? When everyday life is ever demanding and gives us little time to kick back and relax?”
Well, i don’t pretend to know the magical formula for that riddle, but a few things i have figured out and i found them working throughout my life, throughout the highs and lows equally and practically:
– Breathing: always helps.
This basic and mostly unconscious activity is also the one connecting us with life, to Prana the life-force and to the present moment. Because it happens precisely in the now and one moment after the other moment.
So, consciously connecting with the breath, focussing the awareness to the smooth in-and-out of the airstream, the soft sound it makes when it passes in and out of the nose, the gentle touch of the air on the sinus caverns. Feeling the chest raise and fall in a gentle rhythm allows us connect with Life in a pure and simple way.
And always can bring us back to the present moment, wherever we have been, whatever has occupied our emotions or mental space.
It is not a coincident that throughout the history breathing has always played a central role in any kind of meditation practice.
– Mindfulness: which is just another fancy and trendy word for expanded continuous awareness.
Another one of the ingredients of some meditation practices.
To train yourself to always have one part of you noticing, observing, witnessing whatever is going on. Outside of you, inside your body, in your thought space, in your emotions. Signals coming from your intuition, impulses coming from your instincts.
This practice might take a while to establish on a permanent basis and maybe even will need some teacher to guide you into it. But once it has become second nature, it proves to be invaluable, it has too many benefits to name them here.
Mindfulness – once it has been established – shifts the whole perception of your life fundamentally.
And it opens up a foundation your personal life that does not change with all the changes that life brings.
Shamans call this: the assembler point has shifted.
It has to be experienced to understand what i am talking about, words can only go this far …
Did i mention that it can not be attained by a weekend seminar
; D
Practice, discipline, patience and surrender is whats needed here.
– Relaxation, slow down, hang-loose, take it easy babe ; D:
Well, this helps i guess. I don’t mean the lazy, sloppy, careless hang-loose. I mean consciously slow the pace of life, even for a minute or an hour during a crazy, busy day. Remember that all those massively important and pressing issues that you are dealing with now will be gone and forgotten sooner than later. And you will realize that you have been crazily busy but you have not lived, not consciously actually. You have been lived by the momentum and the drive of the machine of circumstances.
And then there is always the choice to take a deep breath, relax the poor muscles of you tired and hurting body, make yourself a hot bath, put on some candles …
And some drops of nice smelling oils into the water might get you in touch with feeling again. Feeling the tenderness of the water, the gentleness of the aromatic essences. You feel … The Moment.
– Feeling: Yes feeling helps a lot! I guess many of us have lost the ability to deeply feel.
Feel!
Period!
Not think, not plan, not analyze, not judge. Just feel. Allow whatever is there in the emotional realm to pass thru. Not holding on to some favorite emotions, not re-cycling the same old known moods.
Just let them come out, all those unprocessed and suppressed emotional residues of the past. They need a space to unravel. Say hello and goodby to them, allow yourself to move on.
When you are more cleared on the emotional level and empty then you will be able to feel the deeper levels of feeling space, the essential stuff:
Unreasonable joy, universal gratitude, faith and trust in life, pure love.
Juicy stuff.
Its time we start feeling our deep self once again.
Then maybe we will again be able to feel the other beings, to feel each other.
Then maybe humanity will have a future on this beautiful planet Earth.
Otherwise … i am not so sure where this ship is heading.
So, lets cherish the present moment wherever we are, whenever we remember to join it.
Lets call it The Sacred Moment.
Thats what i call True Spirituality.
Om
