Here and Now
Photo Credit: Shantunu Kulkarni
“If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it.” ~ Eckhart Tolle
This month I’ve been blogging about resilience, overcoming adversity, and transformation. I’ve shared personal experiences, observations, theories and ideas. In today’s musing I’m exploring how to overcome life challenges using three approaches: present moment awareness, focus on process over outcomes, and responding versus reacting.
As I’ve shown through my stories of battling diabetes and cancer, a serious illness can create an awakening by forcing you into present moment awareness and thereby reducing your ego. But once you recover, it can be difficult to stay in the peace that rose out of the challenge. How can we avoid allowing ourselves to become stressed no matter where we are on the journey?
Staying in the present moment and relaxed as we engage in the busyness of life’s many tasks is an effective way to keep our inner peace. When we are in conscious awareness, doing one thing at a time, we are naturally more focused, productive, and calm. We make better decisions when we’re attuned to our intuition in the now, not looking back at the past or forward into the future.
There is a peaceful presence that emanates from an internal state of Divine essence, which is often buried beneath the weight of thoughts and to-do lists that consume all our attention. The presence is always there, but we’re not always consciously aware of it. The first step is to be aware of the Ego and all the constant chatter that goes on inside our minds. The next step is to detach and stop identifying with it. From a place of quiet stillness, we let it go.
When we focus on processes over outcomes, we engage in the journey instead of a destination. We make adaptive changes in our behaviour and in our thoughts. A resolution to overcome all obstacles peacefully and with love can be a stronghold as we learn how to overcome adversity. We listen to the input of others and when we disagree, we respect our differences in opinion while staying true to ourselves, our beliefs, and our values.
Instead of thinking, what do I want, we ask, what does life want of me? When we have a desire to manifest something, we imagine we already have. We believe in it wholly, in faith. We become vessels of creativity and adaptation. Sometimes God (Source, The Universe) “asks” us to do things we don’t feel capable or ready for, but it’s important to listen and trust, then respond.
Responding versus reacting to life situations and other people is another way of building our resilience and staying in peace. This simple but difficult shift has the power to transform our lives and the lives of others too. Instead of angry outbursts, we learn to express our feelings from a place of calm. This might require us to remove ourselves from the situation with a self-imposed time-out, a few deep breaths, or even a longer break from our routine to refuel.
We all have positions on issues, but it is important not to identify with them. What is the difference? When we identify with our ideas, we need to be right. We act from a place of righteousness, which can result in disrespectful behaviours. As an extreme example, some people in the Catholic Church identified with their position that the First Nations belief system was wrong and their belief system was right, which led to the atrocities of residential schools.
Instead of holding onto “I know this to be true” statements, it’s healthier to accept that most knowledge shifts and changes over time. As human beings, we are uncomfortable with uncertainty, so it is our propensity to try and eradicate it by holding onto “I know this to be true.” But this belief keeps us from being love in the world instead of hate, accepting others instead of judging them. It takes conscious effort to examine our thoughts and guard our minds.
When we learn how to accept uncertainty and stay open and curious, we shift our focus from gaining knowledge to growing wisdom, from achieving to evolving. Wisdom remains true over time and is expressed in all languages, cultures, religions, and belief systems all over the world. It isn’t something you can read about or study to learn. We gain wisdom and maturity through experience over time, but it happens in the here and now.
COMING UP…
Books & Projects:
· All four of my books are available online at Amazon, Chapters-Indigo, and Barnes & Noble. You can also find them at select Chapters-Indigo and El Hombre de la Mancha bookstores.
· I am pursuing representation from a traditional publisher for my fifth literary fiction, a psychological drama that explores the complexities of mental illness and trauma. Stay in touch by signing up for my blog or following me on social media to find out when it will be published.
Reviews & Interviews:
· You can read, listen, or watch a large selection of reviews and interviews on my website.
Events:
· There are no events currently scheduled in my calendar.
YouTube Channel:
· Watch The Rogue Scorpion trailer.
· Watch The Holding trailer.
· Watch The Healing trailer.