I spend lots of time working with individuals, corporations and businesses to get them engaged in
present moment. The reasons I think this is important in business as well as personally are drawn upon toward end of this article. My centre here in Bournemouth used to sell a wide range of books and one that I used to stock was a book called "The Power of Now" by a guy called Eckhart Tolle. Lots of people that came to classes, workshops and consultations at centre would often tell me how great it was and give me snippets of information about its content and for a number of years I would occasionally think “Yeah, I really should read that book” then kept on deciding that I would wait until later (yes, I am fully aware of irony in this!) Nevertheless, I am already sold on power of present moment, for a number of reasons:
My First reason - Only this present moment exists.
I think this is by far most compelling reason to put your attention on present moment. Yesterday doesn’t exist, except as a memory, with all unreliability we know to be true of memories; when you experienced yesterday, it was n-o-w. Tomorrow doesn’t exist either, except as an imaginary construct; when you experience tomorrow, it will be n-o-w. And as it’s all that exists, it’s a good idea to experience it, so, have a go at doing following…
1) Sit with your feet flat on floor, in a comfortable, aligned position (spine straight, hands on your thighs or at your sides, breathing comfortably.) With your eyes open or closed, allow yourself to become aware of different sounds, sights, smells & sensations around you. This is present moment.
That's right. This is present moment, & there are a number of good reasons for keeping your awareness in present as much as possible (in addition to first reason I gave.)
My Second Reason - There’s a whole lot more of it in store for you.
If you stop for a moment, you will realise that all experiences of your life will take place in a present moment. The more comfortable you are with present moment, more comfortable you’ll be with those future presents.
My Third Reason - The present is where you are.
If in doubt, look at your hands. Your hands only exist in present moment. Rub your fingers together, feel how it feels to be in this moment. Because it’s where your hands (& rest of your body) are located, so…
My Fourth Reason - The present is only time you can take action.
You can wish you took action yesterday (so many do; they rue day that.....), but yesterday no longer exists, so it will remain a wish. You can plan to take action in future, but when you take action, it will be in present moment. The only time you can take action is in this hot second.
My Fifth Reason - Wherever you’re headed, you presumably want to enjoy it when you get there. Get in habit of enjoying present now & you’ll be even better at enjoying then when you get there.
I took some amazing insight from my running experiences with my younger brother. When we ran and trained together and competed in races, he always enjoyed race and commented on our surroundings whereas I always had my eye on finish line. So much can and has been said about enjoying and engaging in journey rather than always focusing on future. Have a go at this one too....
