Being Present.

The present is not a place or a thing. The present is everything all at once. It includes all sounds, all feelings, all sensations of the moment. Everything that is there is meant to be there, everything that is not there is not.

Whether your moment is filled or empty, it is all in divine order. This does not mean you are meant to suffer if you are in pain or dis-ease. It does not mean you are meant to live with physical or emotional pain.

Being in the present means being fully present to the current moment. Even though everything is in divine order, it does not mean you have to continue to live in pain.

You may have been told to “go beyond the pain.” That doesn’t make sense to me. To work through pain, you have to recognize it first. You must separate yourself from the pain and become the observer of the pain. To go beyond the pain, you must first be present to yourself. You must see that you are in pain before you can do anything about it.

To work through the pain, practice being present. Recognize when you are not present, then feel back into what is happing right at that moment.

Every time you notice that you are not present, come back and try again. Learn to recognize when you are not present. Notice the signals in your body – it will tell you first. Begin to recognize your own signals.

Pay attention to your heartbeat, your breathing, the tension in your body, and to your thinking. For myself, I notice my heart beating faster, I find myself thinking ahead of myself about everything except what I need to focus on in the moment. I call it “busy thinking” – like when I’m thinking about what to say next, instead of listening to another person.

Once you notice that you are not present, try again. Practice one thousand times a day. When we are present, we have divine choice, instead of following old ways or repeating old patterns.

When we truly live in the moment, we can transcend time and live in a space of freedom. The value of living fully in present time is that we can heal and move mountains of karma for ourselves and others.

How to practice being present:

1) Go into gratefulness. Think about everything you are grateful for – all the big and little things… my heart beats, I can breathe, I have food to eat, the sun is shining, …

2) Go into silence – move into a quiet space.

3) Stop and listen, feel the energy. Listen to your heart. Feel where you’re at. Become present to yourself first, then you can become present in the world.