Do you engage in mental time travel? Wandering around in CouldaShouldaWoulda World, revisiting old hurts and past disappointments? Maybe you’re exploring the unknown territory of TomorrowLand, investing your time imagining things that make you feel fearful or anxious?
If you’re thinking about the past, you are experiencing it NOW. If you’re thinking about the future, you are experiencing it NOW. The consequence is – you are missing the present! You’re missing your life!
Your life is now. There will never be a time when it is not now. It is not possible for anything to happen or to be outside of now. The present moment is all you ever have. The past and the future are an illusion.
Become aware! Don’t allow your mind to be hi-jacked!
The recent issue of Scientific American Mind has a great article ‘Being in the Now’ by Amishi P. Jha. The article states, “Mindfulness is a mental mode of being engaged in the present moment without evaluating or emotionally reacting to it.” Mindfulness-based therapies for mood and other disorders are now offered in more than 250 medical centers worldwide. Research shows being mindful can improve your attention and your brain’s ability to pay attention. It can regulate your mood and increase your level of happiness. It can improve your mental clarity and increase your working memory capacity, the giant white-board in your head. Not only that, but mindfulness improves immune functions which increases your longevity. On the fun side, it enhances tactile and visual stimulation and improves sports performance by improving space orientation.
The mind is very powerful. The Mind Matters! When we become mindful, we are fully in control of our attention. We are able to really savor the moment. We can literally make time stand still when we are focused. When I work with a bride for wedding jitters, one of the most joyful suggestions I am able to deliver is to focus on the details of the moment. When we are focused, we gain a full sensory experience which allows us to be present. We create a multi-media, interactive mind movie where we are able to enjoy the moment again and again in vivid detail.
Your mind can work for you, but it can also work against you. When we are distracted by what is going on around us or outside of us, we can become anxious or stressed-out. Remember, emotion is your body’s reaction to your mind – your thoughts.
Eckhart Tolle in the Power of Now says, “Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as what happens outside. If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within, secondary reality without.”
Research tells us that mindfulness reduces panic disorders, phobias, and depression because it helps us to realize that everything is constantly changing, temporary. We can reduce job-related burnout when we become mindful of what we enjoy in our work and appreciate the moments of satisfaction. We can let go of weight gain when we become mindful of not just what we eat, but how, when, where and why we are eating. Chronic pain is lessened when we are mindful. We can actually reduce the perceived significance of suffering!
Since I want to alleviate your suffering…I have three tips to share with you –
1. Focus your attention on the now and tell me what problem you have at this moment. Not tomorrow, or next week, but right now. What is wrong in this moment? You will find that if you are not bleeding or on fire, that the moment of now is usually okay. You can always cope with the now. But you can never cope with the future or change the past.
2. Give up waiting as a state of mind. It’s a habitual mind strategy for denying the present moment. When you find yourself impatient and wanting the future, realize that you are rejecting the present – the only thing there is. Just be in joy with yourself – enjoy the moment.
3. Make brief visits to the past and future to deal with the practical aspects of the now. Always say “yes” to the present moment.
Perhaps you’ve forgotten how to be in the present moment. I encourage you to make it a habit. “Use your senses fully. Be where you are. Look around. Just look don’t interpret. See the light, shapes, colors, textures. Be aware of the silent presence of each thing. Be aware of the space that allows everything to be. Listen to the sounds; don’t judge them. Listen to the silence underneath the sounds. Touch something – anything – and feel and acknowledge its Being. Observe the rhythm of your breathing; feel the air flowing in and out, feel the life energy inside your body. Allow everything to be, within and without. Allow the “isness” of all things. Move deeply into the Now.” Eckhart Tolle
In my practice, I teach people to become more mindful and help them to travel to the magical and powerful land of the hypnotic state. The hypnotic state is the timeless state of consciousness. If you’re going to engage in mental time travel, this is a five star luxury destination – a dreamtrip, so to speak! In this place, you are able to get in touch with your inner self and connect with Source Energy. It’s a place where every cell of your body is so present it feels vibrant and alive. Imagine that! You are complete and whole and alive in a state of being – a human being, not a human doing. You have arrived at your happy place!
Do you want to enjoy inner peace and physical well-being? Do you recognize the value of the service I offer? Are you ready to book a trip? Perhaps the time is Now.