The Power of Now |

The Power of the Now

In some of my classes and I teach a very specific type of journaling method. It is a technique that I often use myself and over the years has progressed to the point where rather than having to actually write down a question to tap into the answer, just the simple thought of the question initiates the process.

I will be walking along, or wake up from a dream or stand up after watching a film, and all-of-a-sudden I experience a vision or an epiphany (you may have experienced such a thing and possibly often) and in turn receive a great deal of information in a short period of time – much like downloading information.

Just last week, a question came to me that I have had my whole life, yet never really asked. It is a question that you may now be asking or surely have asked or will ask at some point.

The answer to this question… which turned out to be about 10 handwritten pages, came along with it and is the focus for today’s edition of Be-Inspired.

This question is one of the most important and common that people ask themselves for much of their lives yet never truly find the answer to.

This question is…

What am I here to do?

This question is very similar to two other questions that we often ask ourselves, Why am I here? And What is my purpose? But this specific question ‘What am I here to do?” was the catalyst for a beautiful response that completely transformed my views of life and will hopefully be helpful for you as well.

The answer that came was…

You are already doing it.

So this is what it looks like together:

What am I here to do?… You are already doing it.

Now this seems fairly simple. Yes I am a speaker and a coach, but this answer runs more deeply than simply saying “You are doing what you are here to do… you are here to help people through coaching and speaking.”

The nitty gritty of it is, that whatever you are doing right Now, no matter how important or unimportant it seems, is what you are here to do!

So, in essence it does not really matter what you do because whatever it is that you are doing, whether it is reading this article, speaking with a friend, or answering e-mails, is exactly what you are here to do right Now. That is the power of now.

The basis for this is that we as human beings have a spiritual connection, which allows us to both experience life AND be in a state of awareness of living life.
This means that we can either be aware and conscious of experiencing the richness of the NOW, or we can be somewhat lost and clouded and therefore experience very little richness of NOW, having very little clarity of who we are and what we are here to accomplish. Regardless of which you are in, clarity or a cloud, you are always doing what you are here to do right Now.

What this means, and I hope you are sitting down as you are reading this…
The Now is much like a beaded necklace – When looking at a beaded necklace all you see are the beads; we don’t actually see the string. But the actual string that is holding all of the beads is still there.
We can, therefore be in awareness that the string is there and know that it is what is holding the necklace together even though we don’t see it. The Now is much like the string. It is always here, always has been and always will be and we are either in a state of awareness of it in the richness of this moment or we are far away from the richness of it in awareness.
This means that everything you have ever done, every experience and challenge you have gone through, every friendship you have made and left, every romance you have shared, every job you have worked at have always been exactly where you needed to be at those specific times, with those specific individuals, and in those specific places.

You have always been doing what you are here to do all along!

For your entire life has led you to this moment right NOW!

As a result, you will always for the rest of eternity do what you are here to do.

This relates to everything. Every experience offers the potential for learning, which means that every experience is perfect, even the ones that are not so joyous, because each experience will lead you to the next moment, the next NOW.

Life therefore is the expression, the reflection of the happening of NOW which is why we are here – for (the) NOW.

Every Now is either a rich experience or not depending on how present we are to it.
Regardless, that Now, no matter how rich, is perfect for the Now and right where you need to be.

The ramifications of this in our lives is quite large as this means

You never again have to be anywhere other than where you are at right now.

You are in the perfect relationship, eating the perfect foods, reading the perfect article;), and working in the perfect job right now! Even your finances are perfect right where they are at right now.

This may be hard to digest and even more difficult to accept. The reason for this is because you may not feel that these areas are perfect. The reason why you may feel that they are not perfect is because you may be far away from experiencing the richness of now within these areas.

A question that arises from is: Does this mean that just because you are doing exactly what you need to be doing, that you just stop living and eat everything or drink everything or rob a bank because every experience and action would be perfect? The answer to this is …

No!

The following explanation will help to explain this further.

When we stray away from the richness of Now in awareness, we then experience more thoughts, more fears, and more frustrations. As a result we begin to look for ‘things’ that will help us to feel better. This is where addictions stem from. When we feel sad, depressed, or angry about something that occurred in the past, we then go to foods, sex, alcohol, drugs, people and animals to make us feel better again.

When we are afraid of the future or are anxious, nervous or worried, again we look to drugs, alcohol, and other things that help us to numb down so that we are not so overwhelmed with the many thoughts that seem to be there when we are lost in the ‘future’. And the further in the future we go in awareness, and the further in the past we go in awareness, the further away we are from the richness of this moment and as such we feel worse and worse.

What this helps us see is that if we are in the richness of the Now in awareness, there is only the Now and only what is occurring right this split split second in this moment, in this place and at this time. There are no extraneous thoughts about what occurred yesterday, your ex-husband or ex-wife, any challenge you went through last week or about the dishes that have yet to be done, the assignment that is due next week, etc.

This is the true reason to be clear of sugars, free from lactose, to eat well, and why some cultures eliminate meat from their diets, because with the elimination of these things for them, they become clearer and therefore experience a greater richness of life… of the NOW.

This is why addictions, high and low emotions, clutter in our homes, loose ends, sensitivities, insensitivities, stress and so on, take us out of the true bliss of the moment . All these items serve as distractions from the true bliss of NOW.

To take this a step further, any time we are wanting to be somewhere other than where we are, we are AWAY from the richness of the Now.

When we are wanting, we have forgotten the Present.
We are either engrossed within the Moment, deepening into it or moving further away from it.

The further away from it we are, the more we tend to lose, temporarily, our awareness of now and begin focusing on others through gossip, ego, judgments, anger, fear, sadness and the like and the more we tend to grasp on to things like money and material objects.

Can you think of someone you know or have met who is attached to material items or money who instead of using them as tools, obsesses over them?

Realize that this person is simply a little lost, has lost site of the present, is experiencing very little richness, even though the illusion on the outside may show that he/she had a great deal of wealth.

And the cycle continues so that the more attached we are, the more we cling to material objects, thoughts, obsessions, etc. and lose the present moment more and more.
Those of us who are considered Type A personalities tend to be further away from the richness or Now because of our obsession with getting to the next place, getting to the next appointment, crossing off the next item on our To-Do List.

On the other hand, the deeper our experience in the awareness of NOW, the more at peace we are, and, as a result, attract and feel greater oneness. Ironically,the more present we are, the more we do get done and with much less stress. Consequently, all things seem to line up. We attract the right people at the right time, because every time is the right time!

What we are discussing here can also be applied to romantic relationships. If you are with someone who inspires you, then that person is assisting you to experience a greater richness of Now. On the other hand, if you are with someone who drains you or who does not inspire you, then they are actually assisting you in moving further away from the richness of Now.

This was a great insight for me as I had always placed my connection with the Universe first above all other things including a romantic relationship. With this realization, I was able to see that they are one in the same as they are here right NOW anyway! This means that a relationship can actually assist you in experiencing greater richness in the NOW.

And here is the biggest kicker… All things, can only contribute to the richness of NOW because they are all here NOW… Every moment… whatever the NOW.

The more that you experience the richness of now, the less you will want to experience anything less. This means that the more aware you are of those thoughts, people, situations, experiences, objects, etc. that contribute to taking you out of the richness, the less you will want to have those things in your life and therefore your naturally inclination will be to discard them and let them be.

Concurrently, the more that you experience the richness of the Now, the more you will be drawn to those things that contribute to you experiencing an even greater richness of Now.

Now you have it! All of this inspired by the simple question, “What am I here to do?”

You may wish to read this a few times over the next few days and be aware of what it inspires for you and how your inspiration evolves over the next few days.

And until next time, may your week be filled with great richness of the Now in awareness and may you Be-Inspired!

Warmly,

Joshua