BE IN THE MOMENT (Commonly referred to as “BE IN THE NOW”)

Living in the moment means not living in the past, but living in the present moment.

What I’m talking about means: Do you give the moment what the moment dictates, or do you give the moment/ply on the moment your habits, your style, your predictable responses, your personality, your conditioning, your opinion—no matter who or what is presented to you?

For people who have a level of sensitivity to feel the moment, each moment has a life of its own. Each moment dictates what is the best thing to say or do or how to act in that moment—again, for those who have the sensitivity to read/feel it—it’s instinctive, so it’s not thought, it’s an instantaneous recognition. So, you either give the moment what the moment calls for, what is appropriate for the moment, or you give the moment your conditioned, predictable, habitual self.

People who follow the dictates of the moment and give the moment it’s due, have a completely different life than people who give the moment their habitual, predictable responses. When you give the moment your habitual, predictable self/responses, it’s like going through life living sameness (like walking on a treadmill—walking, but not going anywhere, staying in the same place in life.) If you follow the dictates of the moment—you give each moment what the moment calls for—they are little steps that lead to your true future/purpose—that’s the difference of life.

It’s a combination of living the day: “being in the flow”, and giving each moment what the moment calls for—BEING IN THE MOMENT, or BEING IN THE NOW more fully—flowing with what is appropriate with the moment, not whatever you usually do or say or react to emotionally regardless of what or who is presented to you.

For example:

We have all experienced someone who “talks your head off,” never lets you get a word in edgewise, or even just give you a moment of silence as a breather when you are with them. In the car, on the airplane, in the store, at the office—no matter where they are. In fact, they talk pg. 2

EVERYONE’s head off whoever they meet, anywhere they go, no matter what the circumstances. They are just being themselves, using their style and habit of nervous nonstop talking—doesn’t it drive you crazy? They are never reading the moment, or giving the moment it’s due—or even pausing to sense what’s called for–and you most likely try to avoid them as much as possible. What are they missing out on by being with you and others—and hearing what the other person has to contribute?

Or, you are stuck in a traffic jam—which you cannot stand—but you decide to practice “giving the moment it’s due”—and instead of your usual predictable responses of frustration, irritation, aggravation, cussing, hitting your steering wheel, yelling out the window and escalating into “road rage”—you suddenly decide to be patience and calm and using the extra time as best you can. You listen to the radio and hear fascinating new interesting information you’re enjoying that begins to ignite a new passion in you. It’s getting later & later. You decide to CALL AHEAD to where ever you are late to like a doctor’s appointment or work, and then find out your meeting was cancelled anyway, or the doctor’s office uncharacteristically says “oh we’ll fit you in no matter how long it takes you to get here”—BECAUSE you gave the moment it’s due.

Your old style, habits, and personality would have wasted your time & energy and not opened up your future for you.

OR, you run into a friend or a stranger one day who seems to need to talk for an extra minute and you usually almost always are not in the mood and are super busy, busy, busy, so you brush them off and rush passed them as you usually would—or, you are “being in the moment” this day, and you just sense something, so you pause instead, for an extra moment, taking a second longer–feeling something is “off” with them—then you find out someone close to them has just died an hour ago, someone you also know, and you take an extra few moments to say encouraging words that keep them going, and have learned something important to you that otherwise you would have missed.

The people who follow the dictates of the moment, they’re the people who move into their true future—that’s what gets you there—giving the moment it’s due. And, the people who keep giving the moment their automatic, habitual style/emotions/personality/reaction, they live a life of relative sameness and that is, no matter how much they change outwardly in their lives, their life basically stays the same inwardly. They are the people who stay exactly the same from 20 years ago, only a little more knowledgeable, and lot older. The people who live giving the moment it’s due are the people who feel charismatic, ever growing, ever changing, and seem to have a certain spark of “The “IT” Factor”—you are drawn to them, and they generate a special kind of vitality and energy.

The misinterpretation of Sameness & Change: people who believe they are changing everything in their lives somehow are deceived into thinking it really is change—they change everything tangible & material, but it doesn’t mean there really is change, their relationship pg. 3

to life remains the same, their ways of thinking stays the same, their habits stay the same, their style stays the same. It’s gets OLD. Even though they have upgraded their lawns, their homes, their jobs, their “empire,”–interacting with them is still talking to “the same ol’ Bob,” and Bob feels bored due to the sameness of himself.

Even when some people change their philosophy, they basically stay the same. Sometimes people change as much around them as possible, and are always looking for new things, because it is compensation for the sameness they subconsciously feel inside or live with. The only way that leads to newness is to give each moment it’s due, because each moment is a step to the future.

So, if you put your past/habit/style in the moment, then you lose the step—and you just repeat the past. Your life becomes circular. Without realizing when we meet people, people who are giving the moment what it calls for, they feel very differently to us than the people who just give the moment the same repetitive habit/style/personality.

It isn’t people’s different lives that seem necessarily different—this is what makes people seem different to us—that is, people who create the moment vs. people who just repeat themselves in the moment. People do one or the other without realizing it. It’s done subconsciously—they’re not aware of it, but the majority of people give the moment themselves rather than following the moment itself. And when we meet somebody who we think is special, but we can’t exactly figure out why, put our finger on it, we just think they are special—those are the people who give the moment (more than the average person) what the moment suggests, and that’s what makes them feel special to us.

Try to begin to give the moment what it calls for—sometimes you are responding to someone or some event in your day, and sometimes you are creating the moment by sensing what is appropriate or required and adding your voice to it–creating newness for yourself, others, and even “the atmosphere” of a room. It changes things.

One last example: You wouldn’t know it, but I used to not much like “talking” to people– I used to be extremely “shy” (my old habit, style, and personality). However, having mastered “giving the moment it’s due,” when I am out and about, I often find myself talking to complete strangers at the deepest level, in total comfort, because I feel & sense that the moment has called for it, they are “asking for a conversation,” –and it changes both of our lives in positive ways. What if I still never spoke to anyone, ever, anywhere ??? I wouldn’t be here, doing what I do, and none of you would have benefited from the work I do. My True Purpose, my Real Work required that I be different than my habit, my style, my personality in a moment here, and a moment there. And Thank God. I couldn’t be happier than doing what I do—helping others–which requires that I TALK. A LOT !