Terrible things are happening here and now. About the here and now. What prevents a person from living here and now

"Life is a movie where you are filmed here
and now, in one take, without the right to edit.

Once I heard one, at first glance, insignificant phrase: "We must live here and now." I did not hear this statement often, but when I heard it, I went deeper and deeper into the essence of this phrase, because it is no coincidence that we can meet it in books, on television, hear it on the radio, as well as in the statements of public people.

"Nothing exists except here and now."

Bruce Lee

Delving deeper into the essence of the statement, I began to understand: it’s true that we, people, do not live in a moment of life called “here and now”, we live in moments “already happened” or “maybe will be”. As an example, let's consider a life situation familiar to most people called "Having a long-awaited vacation."

At the beginning of a vacation, when we just arrive at our place of rest, whether it be at the sea, in the mountains, in a forest area, at mineral springs or anywhere else, such a situation often arises. At first, a person lives in the future, with thoughts that he will soon return home, to work, to friends whom he misses, etc., and at the end of the vacation he already lives in the past, thinking how quickly the vacation flew by and leaving soon, but how it was It's great when the holiday has just begun. So, all these thoughts and experiences - first about the future, and then about the past - do not allow a person to enjoy the rest at the moment. At the same time, the present, that very moment, is completely missed. "Here and now". And as a result, in addition to the missed moments of the joy of life on vacation, the vacation itself is missed, and then there is a misunderstanding why they didn’t rest, or the most favorite expression among people: "There was little time for rest, even a week."

As in our example about rest, so in life, a person often lives in the future, building more and more new plans, goals, dreams, etc., and when he achieves them, he immediately plunges into memories of how he achieved this and does not live in the present moment. And if you look deeper, then there is no joy throughout the entire period of time when a person was moving towards his goal. So, mechanically vegetating day after day, life passes imperceptibly, as in that joke:

“On a hot summer day in the garden on a bench, grandfather suddenly wakes up from a restless sleep and asks his granddaughter, who is playing with blocks next to him:
- Granddaughter, is it just that it was here, or did I imagine everything waking up? - and the granddaughter answers:
“Hey, grandpa, 90 years have flown by.”

This is how people imagine their whole life. But if you go outside on Sunday at 6 am, just take a walk, do not rush anywhere, then the city opens up from a new side. The houses look somehow different, the air is fresher, the sounds are brighter and it seems as if even the sun has its own fragrance. Why is this happening? What changed? It's just that a person got into a state, which in Gestalt psychology is called "here and now".

How rarely do we live in the present moment, feel everything that is inside and outside of us. We constantly think how good it would be to do like this, go there, learn something - and then THEN it will become better, easier, more interesting. Or we regret the past, that it will never be as good as it was, or we scroll through old grievances and unpleasant conversations in our memory. But what now? Life is made up not of events but of sensations, sensations of heat or cold, touch, aromas, sounds, visual images. Remember your usual morning and try to "disassemble" it into sensations. The feeling of heaviness and warmth of the blanket on your body, the softness of slippers, the touch of water from the shower, the aroma of coffee, the taste of food, the morning sun on your face... And if you pay attention to what you feel NOW? To pay attention to feelings, real, deep, a sense of calm, peace, quiet deep inner joy, unconditional love for everything and everyone that is in every moment here and now, one has only to pay even a little attention to them, just open up and feel ... How much you miss! As long as you refuse to feel what is happening now, to feel reality, and you do not live at all.

Recently, I heard the following parable from a very good person:

A man was crossing a field where a tiger was sleeping. Finding the tiger, the man ran as fast as he could. The tiger is behind him. Running up to the cliff, the man began to climb the slope, clung to the root of a wild vine and hung on it. The tiger growled at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down.

There, curled up in a ring, the snake slept. Only the root of the vine kept the unfortunate.

Two mice: one white, the other black, got out of the mink and slowly began to gnaw at the root. Surrounded by dangers on all sides, the man began to look around and saw a strawberry bush nearby with a single ripe berry. Holding on to the root with one hand, he reached out with the other, plucked and ate the strawberries.
It was the most delicious berry he had ever eaten!

Interpretation of this parable:
- a tiger that runs after a person personifies past,
- sleeping snake future,
- mice symbolize inexorable time: days and nights.
What is left for a person? Not so little! Remember in every priceless moment of earthly life:

I AM - HERE AND NOW.

And it’s so easy to live here and now, but a person falls into the illusion of being and does not understand the true reason: why, in fact, he lives here, in these conditions, and why he is “imprisoned” in this temporary, mortal body. Unfortunately, it often happens that life flies by very quickly, and a person does not even have time to understand why he was born at all, what the power of his attention was wasted on, what little trinkets (empty desires, showdown, struggle for leadership, etc.) further) he exchanged his valuable reserve of vitality.

After all, as the first foundation of the "7 Foundations of ALLATRA" - the basic ideological foundation of a spiritually creative society says:

The value of life

"Increase the main value in your life every day, for a person is suddenly mortal. Strive for perfection, match your personal choice and activity with the main meaning of your existence - spiritual and moral transformation of yourself, serving the highest universal spiritual values."

A person should more often monitor the situation in himself, what he thinks about and ask himself what he chooses here and now: the suffering of this world or Eternity for himself and his Soul? After all, the most important thing in life is the salvation of your Soul. By saving his Soul, a person saves himself. Life, even the longest one, ends very quickly, and it ends suddenly. But if a person longs day and night to save his Soul, works on himself every day, then this gives him a chance to go forever beyond the limits of the material world, beyond the limits of suffering and constant rebirth into the eternal world - the spiritual world.

“In the spiritual world there is no past and no future,is the present - therefore it is eternal.

Igor Mikhailovich Danilov

If a person is constantly in a state of here and now in any relationship, working primarily on himself, then the results of such internal quality work will be reflected in the external life of a person, in his help to other people. And if there are a majority of such people in society, then the society will become different: bright, conscientious, disinterested and peaceful. People will increasingly make their conscious daily Choice in every day, that is, "here and now." And from such “here and now” the whole life of a person is woven.

And the one who is already firmly on the spiritual path changes himself radically, realizes more deeply the meaning of his fleeting life. Such people rush every day to do many useful things for people and for their Soul, both planned and completely random, increasing the chance of their Personality for spiritual salvation.

As it is written in Anastasia Novykh's book "AllatRa":

"... it is important that your life film be light and bright, so that it contains as many good shots as possible. And each frame is a moment here and now. The quality of each frame of your life film depends solely on you, because you make your own life is bright or dark with your thoughts and deeds. You cannot erase the moment you lived, you will not cut it out, and there will be no second take. Spiritual life is the saturation of each frame with Kindness, Love, good thoughts and deeds."

And finally, friends, I would like the words from the movie “Peaceful Warrior”, based on real events from the life of an athlete-gymnast, spoken by the main character at the end of the film, to be remembered and accompanied you throughout your life path:

Where are you? - Here
When you? - Now
Who are you? - I am this moment

The article was written based on materials from the book "AllatRa"

Usually we spend on reflection much more time than is required - fifty or even a hundred times more. So by default, background stress is created and there is a feeling of congestion. We can no longer enjoy mundane activities like getting dressed or walking in the parking lot. The feeling of the present moment remains in the mind as something valuable, but at the same time something that can be put off for later.

A couple of weeks ago, on Sunday, I went to visit a friend to watch the Oscars. I decided not to mentally talk to myself all the way there. Lately, I've been doing a lot of these micro-experiments, putting myself in a state of total presence in the here and now for very short periods of time. Can I, for example, keep my mind focused on what is happening while washing the dishes? At the end of each exercise, I return to my normal state of distracted stupor if desired.

I challenged myself during the 30 minutes it took to drive to my friend's house (including going to the store) to keep my attention focused only on the events of the real world around me and not allow myself to get involved in mental dialogues. That is, I decided to put aside the words for a while and observe everything else.

It worked. The conversational part of my brain is almost silent, and for the 600th time I realized how beautiful in essence and full of harmony - when I manage to take a break and not talk or think about it all the time.

Ideally, I would spend my whole life in this state: when you just watch the course of things, and nothing that happens matters. Everything in itself is very beautiful and curious, and if trouble is brewing, you are already in the best state of mind to deal with it. There is a specific feeling that you do not need to be in any other place - and you realize how rare it is.

The most outstanding feature of this state of presence is the peace that extends to the surrounding world. You can still hear the noises of the city and the motors of the cars, but the loudest irritant has subsided - that is, the usual mental comments.

I've been in this state before, but it always came on more spontaneously. After the recent experience described, I realized something quite obvious: the more you practice, the more often it will happen.

I know that many people are experimenting with purposefully living in the present moment. Perhaps you, like me, have gone on a spiritual quest for yourself, experienced an intense presence in the "here and now" and discovered the incredible benefits of this state. Perhaps you've read The Power of Now or Wherever You Go There You Are, had an epiphany of how much value there is in this particular moment, and felt how everything changes after that.

Only this state for some reason can not be kept. The feeling of the present moment lingers in the mind as something valuable, but also something that can be put off until later - just like putting off the intention of getting in shape or learning to play the guitar.

The described experience succeeded because I made a conscious effort to feel the moment and stay in it. That is, I agreed not to waste my energy on verbal interference, covert or overt, until there was a good reason for it. And it has had a significant impact on my experience. So why not agree to do this all the time?

Because words protect us from parts of reality that we don't like. You are not obliged to emotionally open up towards an object that you have already begun to analyze, give it definitions or evaluations. To take the words out of a particular moment, you must accept the fact that you will accept all the details of the experience without judging or judging them. Most of us don't have the right skills.

And we succumb to the usual train of thought: about how everything should be ideally, or how everything would be with another political party in power, or what should have been answered to that guy, or how the bus fare managed to rise so much - for in a matter of seconds, the present turns into nothing more than a pale background for our thoughts. This is a bad habit and we practice it all the time.

Usually we spend on reflection much more time than is required - fifty or even a hundred times more. So by default, background stress is created and there is a feeling of congestion. We can no longer enjoy mundane activities like getting dressed or walking in the parking lot.

These little things make up the majority (99%+) of a person's life. They can be very tangible and pleasurable if the mind stops talking all the time. Imagine how life becomes 90 times more pleasant! We miss out on this pleasure by allowing our attention to default to internal dialogue. Stress does not come to us from the outside world - the world is much calmer than it seems. It becomes obvious as soon as you stop thinking. The thinking brain is like a constantly running chainsaw that mistakes any object for a tree. Just give him a reason to increase the speed, and he will go to crumble. The brain is designed to solve problems - that's why it wants any object to be a problem.

In most moments of life, we do not have to do anything - just observe is enough. There is no need to analyze or calculate - but the mind still wants to do it. The thinking brain is a tool, and we must learn to put it aside when necessary (that is, almost always). We stand to gain enormously if we simply think less, which means putting aside a tool that is already overused.

A complete list of skills for "living in the present" would be too long to fit in one article. However, we have a very clear starting point: the path to the present moment begins with attention to concrete, physical details. Your body, your clothes, the air, background sounds, the surface you're standing on.

Physical objects exist only in the present. Focus your attention on something physical - that is, on what is really happening. The mind begins to chatter as soon as it has a reason to do so - and it appears at almost any moment, except for the following situations:

a) You are busy with something that requires attention to physical objects. This is why people like sports with a risk to their lives - it forces you to return to reality (otherwise you will die). For the same reason, we watch movies: we sit motionless in front of a multi-meter screen, the rest of the situation is drowning in darkness, a well-arranged story captures our imagination, and the speakers roar at full capacity.

b) You develop habits of returning your mind to something physical as soon as you notice that it has started working on something abstract. He can only work on thoughts, and everything else is part of the present moment.

Your thinking brain has magical powers to divert attention from the present. He can describe circles around you. But it won't be able to stop you from practicing directing your attention to what you really want to direct it to - that is, objects in the real world. Paying attention to the present moment is a fairly simple skill that can be learned and becomes a reflex later on. The easiest way is not to try to do this all the time, but to choose a certain part of the daily routine to practice. Set realistic goals and progress gradually. For example, I started by washing dishes. Then I added walking and putting on clothes to the short list of activities - doing this, I focus on the present moment.

If suddenly you do not understand how this is done, just focus on a specific part of the body. As soon as you notice that your attention has shifted back to some words inside your head, bring it back to your body.

If you've never read The Power of Now, I wholeheartedly recommend it. I'm sure most of my readers already have this book. For those who have already read it, please read it again. During the time that has passed since the first reading, you have probably grown up, and this time you will perceive the book in a completely new way. The audio versions of Eckhart Tolle's work are, in my opinion, even better.

There are at least a million uses for the basic skill of switching attention to something: temper cravings, nip bad moods in the bud, prevent resentment, get more work done, and so on. It's the easiest skill you'll ever want to learn.

It is very important to give yourself completely to the current moment, and not wait until the next one comes. It is necessary to fully immerse yourself and enjoy what is happening in the present moment.

The mountains of bills are growing before our eyes, and you have no idea how you will pay them. Your mother has Alzheimer's and taking care of her sucks the juice out of you. You begin to doubt that anyone even cares about you. But it is at this moment that your heart is beating, you are breathing, you are not starving and you have a roof over your head. Under all circumstances, desires and requirements - everything is in order with you. The moment you're cooking dinner, or grocery shopping, or driving to work, or reading your mail, stop and in the very moment you're in, remind your mind that I'm fine right now.

After a while and a certain number of repetitions, the habit of being in the present and calming the mind will actually change the neural connections in your brain - this is a special process called neuroplasticity - and this will become your norm.

Life is always happening now.

Get distracted from thoughts more often - get carried away by the moment ...

And whatever happens to us TOMORROW...

We have TODAY and NOW in stock! ツ

You are where your thoughts are.
Make sure your thoughts are where you want to be.

And this moment is only yours!
Make it the way you really want it!

Live every moment because it cannot be repeated. Appreciate while it is, until it flashed and disappeared forever. Live here and now, appreciate ordinary moments of life.

The time for happiness is now.

There are people who think that somewhere is better than here...
There are people who think that once it was or will be better than now ...
And there are people who feel good here and now, while others think! :)

If I am not able to wash the dishes with joy, if I want to finish it quickly so that I can go and have a cup of tea, then I will also not be able to drink the tea itself with joy. With a cup in hand, I will think about what to do next, and the taste and aroma of tea, along with the pleasure of drinking itself, will be forgotten. I will always yearn for the future and never be able to live in the present moment...

Tit Nath Khan

There are moments in which a person does not think about anything, does not reflect, does not evaluate, but there are not so many of them. We call these moments happy. This is the moment when you completely remain where your body is, remain here. This is a feeling of happiness, a state of love, peace.

We are always looking forward to something: weekends, vacations, vacations. We dream about it day in and day out, littered with books and work, making plans and thinking about what we could do if we had free time now. And we want it. Unfortunately, this is another “if”, which you definitely need to get rid of in your life. When the long-awaited days of freedom come, desires and plans to do something disappear, and if there are forces to do something, then definitely not to the extent and not with such zeal as we imagined it when we were busy. When there is a lot of something, we stop noticing and appreciating it. And over time, it's better not to joke. Friendship with him costs us dearly. You need to try to allocate more time for your desires, appreciate it, use it wisely. Find your favorite activities and places, create your own days and evenings and there will be more good things...

Dividing life into past, present and future was invented by the mind, but this division is absolutely artificial. Past and future are thought forms, an illusion, a mental abstraction. You can only remember the past in this Moment. The event that you are remembering happened at this Moment, and you also remember it at this Moment. The future, when it comes, comes in the moment. So the only thing that is real, the only thing that is always there, is the present moment.

Eckhart Tolle "What Silence Says"

Now is a good time to forgive...

Now is a good time to love yourself...

Now is a good time to allow yourself to live easier...

Life is here and now, not tomorrow and then.

What you did a minute ago or yesterday

or within the last six months,

or the last sixteen years,

or the last fifty years

does not mean anything.

What really matters is

what are you doing right now.

There is something great in every minute. For example, happiness...

Live in the present day, every day as if it could end at sunset.

So many people wait all week for Friday, the whole month of the holiday, the whole year of summer, and the whole life of happiness. And you need to enjoy every day and enjoy every moment.

IN EVERY MOMENT

I find heaven in every place, in every situation I see the good, in every person - love.

In fact, all you have to do is fully accept this moment. Then you are in harmony with the here and now and in harmony with yourself. Eckhart Tolle

The past is gone, the future has not yet arrived. Only this moment remains - pure, saturated with energy. Live it!

Life is always happening now.

Remind yourself more often that the purpose of life is not at all to fulfill everything planned, but to enjoy every step taken on the path of life, to fill life with love. Richard Carlson

Sometimes the present moment is unacceptable, unpleasant or terrible. There is what is. Watch how the mind creates labels and how they are distributed, how continuous being in judgment creates pain and makes you unhappy. By tracking the mechanisms of the mind, you move away from the stereotype of resistance and, thereby, allow the present moment to be. This state gives you the opportunity to feel the taste of inner freedom from external circumstances, the taste of a state of true inner peace. Then just watch what happens, and if necessary or possible, act.Accept first, act later. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you chose it. Always work with him, not against him. Make him your friend and ally, not your enemy. It will magically transform your whole life.

Eckhart Tolle

- What we are going to do?

- Enjoy the moment.

This moment is what matters the most.

A moment is only a moment - a moment seems so unimportant to a person that he misses it, but only in this is his whole life, only in a moment of the present can he make that effort by which the kingdom of God is taken both inside and outside of us. Lev Tolstoy

CURRENTLY

When your attention is brought to the present moment, that is readiness. It's like coming out of a dream - a dream of thoughts, of the past and the future. So clear, so simple. It has absolutely no room for creating problems. Only the present moment - as such. Eckhart Tolle

Just stop, stop looking. Everything you have been looking for is in front of you, you just have to reach out your hands and take what was meant for you from the very birth. Just stop looking, enjoy what you have. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, whoever you are with, just listen, observe, look, learn. Just live.Live as if you were just born and saw everything that surrounds you!The happiness of life lies in the present moment, in the ability to live now and feel, hear, see, breathe every moment ... Every moment - Live.

If you want to live happily, love the little things in everyday life.
The glow of clouds, the rustle of leaves, the chirping of a flock of sparrows, the faces of passers-by - find pleasure in all these everyday little things.

Akutagawa Ryunosuke

The world will present itself to you exactly as you imagine it to yourself.

You constantly adjust your life to your own ideas about it.

What you believe strongly enough is what you will see in your life. And by no means the other way around. In fact, the everyday hell you live in is nothing but the result of your stubborn belief that the here and now is not heaven at all.

Chuck Hillig

You sit - and sit yourself; you go - and go yourself.
The main thing - do not fuss in vain.

You are the Garden of Joy, you don't need anyone to be happy. You dwell in the garden of Joy, but, remembering the old, you are sad. This Joy, this Moment will destroy both the mind and suffering, because this Moment is precisely Happiness. So don't go back to past moments that bring suffering. Papaji

The greatest miracle is simply to be!

I'm interested in excitement. I am interested in absolute merging with the cosmos at the everyday level. If I kiss, then I am not at that moment. If I sing a song, I am not at that moment. This is what interests me. I'm looking for where there's the least distraction. Where are the least bunnies around. I don't want to waste my energy. If we take the kissing analogy again, there are people who kiss and think - I still have to call this today, do this, this and this. And so uninteresting. If I do something, I want to be all there. I've come to the point where I want undiluted happiness.

Boris Grebenshchikov

To learn to live now, you need to let go of everything that happened yesterday.

The present moment is the field on which the game of life takes place. And it can't happen anywhere else. The secret of the ability to live, the secret of success and happiness can be expressed in three words: Unity with Life. Oneness with life is oneness with what is Now. Realizing this, you will understand that you do not live your life, but life lives by you. Life is a dancer and you are a dance. Eckhart Tolle

The best way to take care of the future is

Eternity pulsates in every breath...

Whoever understands life is in no hurry. Stop...

Feel the taste of every moment!

THERE IS NO PAST

The universe is being recreated moment by moment. Therefore, in fact, there is no past, there is only a memory of the past. Blink your eye and the world you see didn't exist when you closed it. So the only possible state of mind is wonder. The only possible state of the heart is delight. The skies you see now you have never seen before. Now is the perfect moment. Be happy with it.

Terry Pratchett "Time Thief"

LIVE IN THE HARMFUL PRESENT

When you stop digging into what has already happened...

And worry about what hasn't happened yet...

Then you can feel the Joy of Life.

Stay in the present. You can't change anything about the past, and the future will never come to you exactly as you envisioned it or expected it to be. Dan Millman.

The great science of living happily is to live in the present.

Don't be afraid of what will happen tomorrow. Love yours today, love it with any, unwanted, bad. And then it will answer you with love, just as someone who no one wants to see and accept, and suddenly there is someone who accepts him totally.

You are too interested in what was and what will be ... The sages say: the past is forgotten, the future is closed, the present is bestowed. That's why it's called real.

Don't let the clock and calendar obscure the fact that every second of life is a miracle and a mystery.

Forget the past, it brings sorrows, do not think about the future, it brings worries, live in the present, because this is the only way to be happy.

Do not anger the cruel firmament with a prayer,

Disappeared friends do not call back.

Forget yesterday, don't think about tomorrow

Today you live - live today.

Omar Khayyam

People would suffer much less if they did not so diligently develop the power of imagination in themselves, would not endlessly recall past troubles, but would live in the harmless present.

Only by ceasing to grieve about the past and worry about the future, I can enjoy what is happening now.

Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
Today is a gift, accept it.

This is how the Engine from Romashkovo reasoned: stop, look around, listen, otherwise you might be late for life ...

When I breathe in, I calm my body and mind.
As I exhale, I smile.
Being in the present moment, I know that this moment is amazing!

Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow is a mystery.

Today's gift!

Once, from the window of his house, from where the market square was visible, Rabbi Nachman noticed one of his students. He was in a hurry somewhere.

Have you had time to look at the sky this morning? Rabbi Nachman asked him.

No, Rabbi, I didn't have time.

Trust me, in fifty years everything you see here will be gone. There will be a different fair here - with different horses, with different carts, and the people will be different too. I won't be here anymore, and neither will you. What is so important here that you don't have time to look at the sky?...

The world is beautiful, perfect, and infinitely interesting. You just need to realize life in the moment Here and Now. And she will open all her doors for you. Yes, be open-hearted!

The ego keeps you waiting: tomorrow, when you succeed, you can rejoice. And today, of course, you must suffer, you must sacrifice. Tomorrow simply means that which never happens. It's postponing life. This is a great strategy for keeping you in the grip of suffering. The ego cannot rejoice in the present. It cannot exist in the present; it dwells only in the future or in the past, which do not exist. The past is no more, the future is not yet; both are non-existent things. In the present, pure moment, you will find no ego in you - only silent joy and pure silent emptiness.

OSHO ---

Never go back to the past. It kills your real. Memories are meaningless, they only take your precious time. History doesn't repeat itself, people don't change. Never wait for anyone, do not stand still. Who needs it - they will catch up. Do not look back. All hopes and dreams are just illusions, don't let them take over you.

Remember! Never, under any circumstances, give up. And always love, you cannot live without love, but love this present, the past cannot be returned, and the future may not begin.

Sometimes we say how good it used to be, how we miss those times. In the future, the same will be said about what is happening now. Appreciate the real.

If you keep looking back, you won't be able to see what lies ahead...

M / f "Ratatouille" ---

Close your eyes and you will see. Stop listening and you will hear. Stay alone with your heart and you will realize...

Use every moment so that later you do not repent and do not regret that you missed your youth.

Paulo Coelho ---

Try, at least in a small way, not to bring your mind.
Look at the world - just look.
Don't say "like" or "dislike". Don't say anything.
Don't say the words, just look.
The mind will feel uncomfortable.
My mind would like to say something.
You just say to the mind:
"Be quiet, let me see, I'll just watch"...

Stretching out their hands to the stars, people often forget about the flowers under their feet.

D.Bentham ---

Life is as it is seen. It's magical enough not to invent anything else.

-- Bernard Werber ---

There are three traps that steal joy and peace: regret for the past, worry for the future, and ingratitude for the present.

If you want to be a happy person, don't rummage through your memory.

Accept reality as it is.
Appreciate everything that comes into your life.
Enjoy while it lasts.
Let go when the time is right.

I was inspired by the words of Chögyam Trungpa, a Tibetan meditation master, who was once asked how he managed to escape from the Chinese invasion, along with his students, to cross the Himalayas, having almost no preparation, no provisions, not knowing the path and outcome of his risky venture. His answer was short: "Alternately moving the legs."

Jorge Bukay

Happiness is available to everyone, and is available right now.
We just need to stop and take a closer look at the treasures that already surround us.

There are people who think that somewhere is better than here.
There are people who think that once it was (will be) better than now.
There are people who feel good here and now, while others think.

How you live your day is how your whole life goes. How easy it is to succumb to the idea that one day won't solve anything, because we have many more days like this ahead of us. But a wonderful life is nothing more than a succession of wonderful, well-lived days, going in succession, like pearls strung on a string in a beautiful necklace. Every day is valuable in its own way. The past is left behind and the future is just a figment of the imagination, so today is all you own. So manage this day wisely.

Life is now. It's not "tomorrow" or "yesterday". One is unknown, the other does not exist.

Peace and serenity can only exist in the present moment. If you really want to be at peace and harmony, you must be at peace and harmony right now.

All life flies by in a single moment.
In these moments, you are...

Live in a world with no idea of ​​what's next. Whether you are a winner or a loser, it doesn't matter. Death will take everything. Whether you win or lose, it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters, and always has, is how you play the game. Did you enjoy it? - the game itself... - and then every moment becomes a moment of joy.

Osho

Walking on water is not a miracle.
The miracle is to walk the Earth and feel really alive right now.
And smile!

Most of us live in such a frenetic pace that true silence and immobility sometimes become something alien and uncomfortable. Most people, upon hearing my words, will say that they do not have time to sit and look at a flower. They will tell you that they don't have time to just enjoy the laughter of children or run barefoot in the rain. They will say that they are too busy for such activities. They don't even have friends, because friends also take time...

Robin Sharma ---

THE JOY OF LIFE

Ask yourself: "Am I feeling joy, peace and lightness from what I am doing now?"

If not, then this means that time obscures the present moment, and life is perceived as a heavy burden or as a struggle. If there is neither joy, nor calmness, nor ease in what you are doing, then this does not necessarily mean that you should change what you are doing.

Just change how you do it.

"HOW" is always more important than "WHAT".

See if you have the opportunity to pay even more, and much more, attention to the DOING IT ITSELF than to the RESULT that you want to achieve through this doing. Direct all your attention to what gives you THIS MOMENT. At the same time, this will mean that you completely accept what is, because you cannot give something your full attention and at the same time resist it.

As soon as you begin to honor and respect the present moment, then all existing discontent dissipates and the need for struggle disappears, and life begins to flow joyfully and calmly. No reality can be a threat to you.

If yesterday was lost due to some mistake, then don't lose today by remembering it...

No matter how long your journey is, there is never more than: one step, one breath, one moment - Now.

Eckhart Tolle ---

Don't spoil what you have by wanting what you don't have; remember that once you only hoped to get what you have now.

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Believe in it and make it beautiful.

There is no point in looking for a place where you will feel good. It makes sense to learn how to create it well anywhere.

We spend, we pass through our fingers the best minutes, as if there are no one knows how many of them are in stock. We usually think about tomorrow, about the next year, at a time when we need to cling with both hands to the cup, poured over the edge, which life itself stretches out, unbidden, with its usual generosity - and drink, and drink, until the cup has passed into others. hands. Nature does not like to regale and offer for a long time. Alexander Ivanovich Herzen

In everyone's life there comes a moment when you need to understand that the old is no more. It was there, in the past, and now it has collapsed completely and irrevocably. This is how we learn to let go.

Very few people live for today. Most prepare to live later.

Be in the moment. Bring all your total awareness into this moment. Don't let the past interfere, don't let the future come in. The past is no more, it is dead. Die to the past every moment, whether the past is heaven or hell. Whatever it is, die to it and be fresh and young and be born again in this moment.A person appears to be in the present, but this is only an appearance. Man lives in the past. It passes through the present, but remains rooted in the past.The past is gone - why cling to it? You can't do anything with it; you cannot go back, you cannot remake it - why cling to it? This is not a treasure. And if you cling to the past and think it's a treasure, of course your mind will want to relive it again and again in the future. Osho

This moment contains the seed of the greatest truth. This is the truth you wanted to remember. But as soon as that moment arrived, you immediately began to build thoughts about it. Instead of being in the moment, you stood aside and judged it. Then you reacted. It means you did what you did before.

By approaching each moment as if it were a blank slate, without any prior thought about it, you can create yourself the way you are, rather than repeating the way you once were.

Life is a process of creation, and you continue to live as if it were a process of repetition!

Neil Donald Walsh

Everything that we perceive during life is “in the moment”. Things exist only for a moment, only we do not dare or do not want to consider them in this way.

-- Rinpoche Dzongsar Khyentse --

Does the sun shine for me today so that I think about yesterday?
Friedrich Schiller

A lot of people are waiting all week for Friday, the whole month of the holiday, the whole year of summer, and the whole life of happiness ... And you need to enjoy every day and enjoy every moment.

What is living in the present?

When it comes to this, many people ask - how is it, live in the present and be in the here and now? Let's start with this.

Do a simple experiment. Right now, reading this article, do you feel your body? Or did they remember him when I suggested thinking about it?

Or, for example, stand up and try to get some object from the shelf. Find a high shelf so you have to reach for the item. Where are you at? Where is your consciousness while you are trying to reach the object? Most of them are already on the shelf. Or even already doing something with this item. But in fact, in your present, in Here and now, you are still stretching - and that's it!

When you go to the store or to the car to go to work, where is your consciousness? Most often - in a store, at work, and it happens that in a completely foreign place - at the doctor, on a romantic date, which may (or may not) be only in the evening, or even at a resort where you will go a month later two, but not on the street you are walking on.

The usual picture - a person walks down the street and thinks about a partner, work, children, parents, offenders, the future, the past, about anything, but not about what he is doing now. A person washes dishes, goes in for sports, relaxes on the couch, and at the same time is anywhere, but not in the present moment.

It's simple: if your consciousness is focused on what you are doing at this very moment, you are in Here and now entirely. If it is busy with something else, you are not in the present.

At best, your body is here. Separated from consciousness, which, in turn, is in another place. Just as the body is not very comfortable without consciousness, so consciousness cannot do anything without the body, without the energy of its sensations.

Therefore, the work of the body in this case is done in vain, and the work of consciousness does not always bring satisfaction.

Most often, everything ends with the constant rotation of consciousness in some familiar circles, but in this rotation there is rarely an adequate solution to an annoying problem, and the body, abandoned in the "autopilot" mode, is not able to fully rest, as, however, is not able to fully work in isolation from consciousness. .

I do not argue, there are moments when we do not want to do a certain thing, but we must. No one else needs it, but we do.

Let's say you need to clean up, you want cleanliness, but you don't like washing floors. I can say, of course, that if you start listening to the sensations of the body, which muscle groups work - and washing the floor can become an interesting activity. But if you really don’t like it at all - well, maybe it’s time in your case to think about an outsider. And your choice regarding this activity will be like this.

But a conscious choice regarding a few not very favorite activities is one thing, but an almost constant and uninterrupted stay somewhere else, without any awareness of this fact, is a completely different case.

Why is this so, and what is fraught with separation from life in the present?

Humans, unlike animals, have the ability to think abstractly. This in itself is neither good nor bad. At some points, this can help a person solve his problems, and at some times it can interfere.

But now we are talking about those situations, and even more - about a way of life when an excessive emphasis on abstract thinking interferes with a person. live in the present solve current problems as efficiently as possible.

Putting branches into the fire, I drew attention to one of the actions of the Shaman preparing the “table”. He took out a boiled chicken egg from the bag, which turned into ice in a forty-degree frost, and, almost without looking, with one blow of the knife he split it into two equal parts.

Sitting down, I tried to crack open a couple of eggs with my heavier knife, then another three with the Shaman's knife. Not a single egg I was able to crack evenly and without crumbs. This led to thoughts about some special dexterity of the Shaman.

“Have you often cracked eggs like this?”

— I don't remember. And you don't bring them often.

— And how did you learn to split so evenly?

- Didn't study. It will come to mind.

- But how do you prick them?

- Look. (The shaman casually struck with my knife not across, but along the last whole egg, which split into two equal halves.)

- What's the secret?

We have different activities.

- What is the difference?

When I act, I act entirely. And you - parts.

- What parts?

- For example, one part of you is not sure that you will cope with the egg, the other thinks that cracked eggs will not be lost in the cold, the third - in general in Magadan with the problems of your own eggs.

“But my actions may be more complex than your situational ones.

“Your actions can only be more blurry. For example, instead of accurately hitting the egg, you hit your fingers hysterically. Such sloppiness makes a person weak and old.

What should I do to learn how to act like you?

- Doesn't matter. You can, for example, chop eggs. The main thing when you prick eggs - prick eggs, and do not catch crows.

Serkin "Shaman's Laughter"

Exhausting, isn't it?

The ability for abstract thinking sometimes plays a bad joke on a person: it prevents him from living in the present, tears him away from the reality that he is busy with right now, and turns his actions into ineffective ones.

Here are a few typical customer complaints that I think many will recognize themselves as:

“When I have sex, I sometimes think about how I look, what my partner thinks of me, does he / she like my body, is the partner happy enough with what is happening, would it be excessive to offer this or that, I remember the former partners, old grievances/comparisons/questions come up, I think about what will happen if it doesn’t work out….”

The result - erectile dysfunction, dissatisfaction, fears, tension, and generally poor-quality sex.

“When I’m about to pitch my idea to my boss / I’m going through an interview, I think about what the boss will think of me, is it appropriate to talk about this and that, past failures come up, thoughts about what will happen if the idea is not liked / not I will pass the interview, what to do next ... "

The result is a failed interview, an idea not considered, a lack of interest in your personality and a depreciation of your offers, a general disappointment in yourself and a drop in self-esteem, which further deepens fears at the next interview or when talking with superiors.

“When I get into a new company, I try to imagine what I need to do and say in order to please people, I think through my lines, I imagine what I can be, I worry about what will happen if that situation is repeated when for the last new year, I felt superfluous in the company, trying to analyze what I did wrong .... "

The result is alienation of people, coldness, a feeling of being superfluous again, sad thoughts, damage to self-esteem, despair and disappointment instead of positive emotions.

What are the characteristics of all these situations? A person is anywhere, but not in the present - in past situations, in dreams and plans for the future, in fantasies (that is, in general in an abstractly existing reality), in various assumptions “what if” ....

The trouble is that the emphasis on this way of perceiving the world in most of us is brought up by our parents and our culture. How many of you in your childhood and youth were told: “think with your head, try to foresee the consequences, maybe one or the other!” - and give examples of their own or someone else's, often negative, experience.

The thought itself is not so bad. Where you can think about the information available, estimate the chances, reasonably evaluate your capabilities and the reactions of other participants in the situation - this can be done.

But the whole problem is that it has a limit. Not a single, even the most perfect analytical tool can take into account all the variables of this world. No one can predict all the consequences. Not a single action, taking into account all possible inclusions of reality, can be 100% predicted.

Reality is changing. - Constantly discover something new. If your past experience says "I have an example of failure" - this means that you just have such an experience. This means that you can draw some conclusions from this experience, perhaps - to realize how you should not act anymore.

But this experience does not mean at all that the situation will repeat itself. Moreover, if you are open to changes in reality, then you can guarantee yourself that everything will be somehow different. The old way will be only when you yourself expect the usual, albeit unpleasant, turn of events.

Many are misled by everyday and well-established actions: the road along the usual routes, where, it would seem, nothing changes, life schemes that seem safe to some - “learn from something, and you will always have a piece of bread”, life schemes in general - “raise a son, plant a tree and build a house”, etc. In some cases they really work. But they don't work very well safely.

Remember how many of your plans were destroyed by any "force majeure"?

Starting with global ones - the death of loved ones, serious illnesses, sudden loss of money, business collapses or political and economic crises, to a banal cold that happened “just” on the most important day, no less banal being late for the train or even an icicle suddenly falling on the roof of the car .

The illusion of control is exactly what prevents us from living in the present, what makes us sometimes “driven” into various mental constructions, which, it would seem, are designed to protect us from the vagaries of an unpredictable reality.

In fact, the attempt to control events distracts us from the immediate reaction to the real world and makes the reaction itself sometimes completely ineffective.

After all, as we have already said, it will not work to predict everything 100%, especially on the basis of someone else's experience, and your own too. Much more reliable is the attempt to rely on your spontaneous reaction. Which is only possible when you are in the present.

I do not want to say that you do not need to think at all.

The difference between conscious, genuine thinking and pouring from empty to empty is obvious: when you really think, you try to build the whole chain of problems, tasks - how did it start, how did it develop, how are certain arguments that you use in your judgments justified? whether the question has a history (your personal or in general in the history of people or culture, philosophy, science, religion), how it is connected with your feelings, what conclusions you can draw from your experience.

This is a reflection and should be treated with respect.

Fragmented and unsystematic thinking is quite another matter. Which is not inclined to delve into research, logic, history and analysis of your experiences. Unsystematic thinking is just mind jumping from subject to subject and the inability to concentrate on anything for more than a minute, two, three, and alas, as practice shows, this is what is usually called the verb “think”….

The conscious process of thinking should be given its place and time. If, for example, you need to think about a personal problem - find a comfortable body position, create the necessary level of silence (or put on the music you need), prepare paper and pen to write down important things, ask you not to disturb or move away from people somewhere on nature, in a secluded place.

And do not forget to agree with yourself about how much time you will think. If, for example, the allotted hour has passed, and you have not come to anything, there is no point in further “chasing” the problem in your head in a circle. So you are not ready to solve it yet.

And if you immerse yourself in the present, in the reality that is happening to you here and now, most likely, the answer will come faster than if you keep playing a “broken record” in your head.

If you are engaged in intellectual work or periodically need analytical processing of this or that information that is important to you, is it necessary to completely disconnect from the sensations of the body? Perhaps they will also be able to tell you some steps in solving your problems? After all, you are the whole. It is much more productive to work with all of oneself than with a part.

Why live more than half of your life in different “maybe” and “what if”, if you can go and find out how it will actually be, and if it’s not time to find out yet, just do what is relevant right now, or relax fully?

And about what specific benefits in practice we will receive by living in the present -.

He writes: “When I want to look at my life from a different angle, I imagine that I will die soon. What will I think about then? What will I regret? What will I be proud of? How will these ideas affect my life choices now?

For me, such thoughts are an opportunity to take a breather. I think it's important to be constantly mindful of all the big and small decisions I make each day as I chug my way up the slope, occasionally glancing towards the top so I don't lose my inspiration. That way, checking along the way is much better than discovering that you have wandered into the wrong valley when it is too late.

Also, I do an exercise that takes me one step further. I pretend to be talking to the dead. What could they tell me if they had the opportunity? What advice would they give? Here is an example of such a conversation.

Vigdis' story

In addition to me, Vigdis, Thor and Kari are participating in the conversation. I didn't know them before. I imagine that we are sitting in soft comfortable chairs in a cozy room. Outside the window is a dark winter evening. Vigdis died of cancer in 1973 at the age of 42. Thor passed away in the winter of 1996, he was 93 years old. Kari died in a car accident in 2001, she was 27 years old.

I see them in front of me: they are sitting around the table, surprisingly calm. They talk, laugh, share stories about their lives. I pour coffee into four cups. Coughing softly, I sit up and take a small sip of the scalding coffee. Vigdis looks at me and says softly, almost in a whisper:

I died relatively young: I was 42 years old. I died a few months after I was diagnosed with cancer, so I didn't have much time to get used to it all. Everything happened very quickly, but after that I had enough time to reflect on my life. After death, my thoughts were naturally occupied mainly with the last months of my life.

It was a terrible and agonizing time, but at the same time I was leading a life fuller than ever. I knew that I had very little time left, and the question now was: “How will I live my last months?” Of course, I thought about my close friends and family no less than about my own destiny.

She smiles mischievously.

The day after I was diagnosed, I decided to live to the fullest. I thought about how lucky it was to live to be my age in the Viking Age, so those months are a nice bonus. I was grateful that I lived to my age. Of course, I thought that death came for me too soon, because I had completely different plans. I expected to live to about 85. But I imagined that I live in the Stone Age. And it helped. I thought I had a few more months to enjoy life.

Our desire to live to the fullest depends on our expectations and how much time we have available.

What would you change if you were told you had five years to live? I was told that I only had a few months left.

And I decided to open up, absorb as many impressions as possible and create as many good moments as possible. These months were terribly difficult in many ways, but at the same time, the best, most beautiful moments were happening in my life. I began to better understand what is really important to me, what I will have to face, what I am ready to devote my time to and just what I will think about. I was worried that I didn’t have much time left, but at the same time I was less worried about the little things. I didn't experience stress. Behaved much softer with others.

I began to pay more attention to all the good things in people and became kinder myself. I was always mindful of the time allotted to me, I knew that every day matters, that I should not take them for granted and their number is limited. I became more receptive to the beauty of the world around me.

And now I come to my main idea: things that I had not noticed before became important and pleasant for me.

I understand why young men and women in their thirties hardly pay any attention to this, but it was a real revelation to me how much good can be found around almost at any moment, if you look at the world through special "I will soon be gone" glasses.

Maybe I was lucky that I experienced all this at a young age? I got better when I just walked in the garden and looked at the beetle in the grass, at the bright flowers and listened to the birds singing. I felt better when I heard the children laughing. Do you know that good children's laugh? I felt better with the daily little things in life. I thought that if everything just ends with death, plunges into darkness, then now I need to absorb everything that I see and hear, all the smells and sounds. The fly that can't get out of the bedroom where I'm trying to sleep is starting to look cute. Not annoying, but cute. Is it true!

We look at each other and laugh.

I began to notice rain, sun and wind, admire them. I wanted to try things that I had never tried before: I would go to the supermarket and buy fruits that I didn’t even know the names of. A quiet walk in the forest, dinner with a friend, a glass of wine, a beautiful view, Mozart music, a good book, a smile, a compliment or a donation to a beggar - everything became a vivid impression. I wanted to get as much out of them as possible.

The painful realization that my life would soon be taken from me helped me see the beauty that always surrounds us. There is something good in every person, I saw everything and decided to pay more attention to it.

Before I became aware of the disease, I wanted to change a lot in my husband, but after that I switched to what I value most in him. I started treating everyone around me this way. It was nice to see beauty in people that I had not particularly liked before.

The beautiful was often small and insignificant, but I saw it. The world around me remained the same as before, but my attitude towards life has changed.

If I could live again, I would remember this attitude more often. Allow yourself to live now.

I remember the speeches that were made at my funeral. People said how kind I was to them. This is the best thing I could take with me on my journey to the other side. I think that it was precisely the fact that I began to see beauty in everything and everyone, at least in the end, that made me better and kinder. I chose to see beauty.

Why are these dialogues necessary?

Eric writes that by recording such dialogues with the dead and letting his imagination run free, something happens to him: “It helps to assess whether I remember big and important things in my life. Much of what I write about has long been erased to holes, but this does not make it any less important. And that's why I won't be upset if you think I'm talking in clichés: I'm constantly convinced that people often need to hear these long-familiar ideas again. Again and again. Gratitude. Happiness. Awareness."

A person with inner strength looks up.

If you want to do it yourself, you can decide who your interlocutor will be: whether you know him or not, whether he is a man or a woman, how old he is and who he was during his lifetime. But ask him this question: “What would you do differently?”

It takes some effort to write such a dialogue. But these are proven techniques to help you consciously think about the most important things in your life. They allow you to stop briefly as you take small steps up the side of the mountain and check if you are going the right way.