FOCUSING ON THE PRESENT

WHILST many focus on the past, others find it easier to focus on the future. What is the future? A piece of time that has not even arrived yet, not begun, does not exist.

Yet so many people are living in their futures negatively – pre-planning and visualising situations and events that will be a failure of some sort (because they perceive their pasts to be a failure).

So, say you are a single woman in her 30s, and deep down, you have self-esteem issues and are afraid that a man will never propose to you.

You visualise your spinsterhood with despair, you look with envy at friends who marry, and you blame yourself for being a failure for your previous failed relationships.
 
All negative thoughts that are either focused on the past or the future and not one iota of what you are thinking is true, absolutely true, (as in fact), it is just your viewpoint, your version of perceived past events or perceived future events.

Why even think of the future? Yes, you can plan (as long as it is positive planning), but thinking with anxiousness about an event that has not even happened and has no guarantee of happening is just crazy – and some people can focus their minds like this for weeks, months, even years – what a waste of a life!

Many people live this way, living day to day by focusing on the negative events of the future, or the negative events of the past. 

They are not living, just purely existing in another dimension of time. This actual moment is all you actually own, this moment right now. Why waste it? Why not use it productively?

You do actually live in the moment when you carry out creative things such as painting, dancing, car racing. You know how enjoyable these activities can be, as you are completely there, engulfed creatively in that moment, just on the activity, no thoughts of the past, no thoughts of the future. Just … now.

It is easy to live in the now. One way to achieve this is just to slow down, breathe normally, look at everything around you (really look at it). 

When you look at a plant, for example, really look at it – it’s texture, it’s shininess, it’s colour; you are completely in the now, studying an object.

You will notice when you live in the now, you will always feel calm and at peace, gone are the depressing feelings about the past, or the anxious feelings about the future. In its place is just a feeling of serenity, a feeling of utter acceptance for your life right now, just as it is.

These following activities can help you to live in the now:
- Meditation (an excellent way to cleanse the mind of its thoughts).
- In the moment activities – dancing, painting, singing, drawing and so on. Anything that gets you 100 per cent focused on the moment.
- Deep breathing; just focusing on your breathing in and out, will ensure your mind is concentrated on one thing now, not in the past or future.
- Being totally creative within your work. One task at a time, not rushing onto the next task (that’s living in the future). Taking it at a pace, enjoying every step of the way.
- Engaging with nature; walks on the beach etc, marvelling at the scenery around you and becoming one with it.
- A lovely affirmation that I created to assist myself with living in the now is – ‘I live fully in the now and know my future is full of endless joys’.

By living positively and fully in the now, from minute-to-minute, will ensure your future days, weeks, months and years are just as full – full of flow, full of acceptance and full of creativity and joy. 

What a wonderful, enriching and beneficial way to live your life and to appreciate everything this amazing world has to offer.