YOUR LIFE | The Makings of a Movie Classic?
Why is there more peace in the present moment? When you leave the moment to start thinking about the past or future, you almost immediately begin to feel whatever you are thinking about. If for example you are thinking about a sad past event then that is how to will feel. Or if you are dwelling on a time when you felt hurt, then again, that is how you will end up feeling.
On the other hand, if you give your undivided attention to the here and now, you immediately stop ‘feeling your thinking’ and naturally experience more peace. Not because you are trying to feel peace, but because you are no longer doing anything that prevents you from experiencing the inner presence of peace, which is your most natural way of being. You see, your inner awareness that is aware of each and every moment of your life is calm, well and free – always.
Your Side of the Fence
Incidentally, this means that other people are not the cause of your negative emotions, either. Over the years I’ve observed a collectively held belief within the population: “How I feel is their fault”. Meaning: what someone else said or didn’t say, or what they did or didn’t do, are the cause of my lack of inner peace or love. This is the not necessarily the case.
Your emotions are due to something that is going on within you, on your side of the metaphorical fence, and not outside of you. A button has been pressed inside you. You are feeling what you are feeling because you are currently feeling your thinking. No button, no emotional reaction.
Now I appreciate if, for example, someone is in your face, then you may well feel something ‘negative’ in these moments. I’m referring here to the rest of the time, when the moment has past, but you are still feeling bad. If we eliminated the hurt, sadness, anger etc. brought on by thinking about the past or future, then we would experience a life-changing amount of peace during daily life.
Taking on board and applying this liberating possibility, we stop projecting our ‘stuff’ out onto others and the world. We stop suffering unnecessarily due to the false belief that ‘I feel X because of them’, and we can protect or peace by thinking less and living more in the now
Your Real and Imagined Life
One-way of staying in the peaceful place of now is to recognise that there is a big difference between your Real Life and your Imagined Life. Your Real Life is whatever is happening right now and your Imagined Life is everything else. Yes, everything else! Now, to really get what I’m saying, you must be willing to see that, although it may appear that your life circumstance are happening now, they are not. Right now you are reading this article, for example. Everything beyond the immediate moment happens only in your mind and imagination.
To remember and start thinking about any problem in your life you need to move your attention away from this moment to thoughts about the problem. The more you can remain attentive to your Real Life, the less of a big deal your Imagined Life is, ever.
The Makings of a Movie Classic
With a regular meditation practice you we dwell on the past less. However, by aiming to live in the moment it doesn’t mean you are not allowed to talk about the past. We just do so without leaving the moment and recall past memories as you would any entertaining story, let’s say, from a great movie.
Even if there is drama, disappointments or cliffhangers, when watching a movie, you can enjoy it because deep down you know it is ‘just a story’ and isn’t happening in the reality of now. Actually, movies often have suspense, ups downs twists and turns, things don’t always go to the characters plan, but you stick with them until they come out the other side victorious. This is your chance to come out of the other side and prosper over past events that may have gotten you down.
It’s time to start being entertained by your story, rather than restrained by it. When faced with plot twists, be present to find your superhero potential to remain keep calm irrespective of what comes our way.
