9 thoughts on “When you live in the moment, the right thoughts come at the right time”
Thanks for this dialogue! Another big sticking point for me, is when it comes to helping loved ones, and this is where “positive thinking” and manifestation (as in “the Secret”)became very problematic. I discovered that I could indeed seem to help when I worked with affirmations and mind-maps, but then that can itself become a real burden! For example, I ended up feeling that I HAD to think about my (adult) children positively, that if I started worrying, it was my responsibility! I think that’s why it is so important first to learn how to accept and try to trust what is, so that I don’t get “hoist by my own petard” and think that I (ego) am in charge…as if!
Well you’re responsible for your mind certainly. I would suggest that the best way to help your children is to simply be present for them. That’s the only way we can really connect with others, by being totally open. Whether they open to you is their decision. Being in this state is absolutely the best way for them to feel that you are the one to turn to if they feel they need help. You can find a way to release worry by being clear about this and then making a clear decision about what you prefer from now on. Then if a worry thought comes, you recall your decision and perhaps replace the thought with your new truth or decision then let it go. IAgain it comes down to trust. Can you trust your WHOLE minded state to tell you intuitively what is needed or is the worrying little me best to handle things? My son actively resists help and I find that unsolicited advice never gets a warm welcome from anybody. But when he WANTS my help, wow that’s a different story.
Reflecting on what I wrote earlier, I grew up in a perfectly nice family, where religion was what you did on Sundays (if there was a nice enough church in the area) and at Christmas and Easter. It was to do with being a part of your community, not with any REAL faith in any useful or credible “God”. Certainly no quarter was given to any other “mumbo-jumbo”…it was fun to look at astrology pages in magazines and read the odd book, that made you say “Wow! Who’d have thought it?”, before going back to the workaday world…NOW I find that experiences that I have had all my life of a very profound state, through play, through art work, etcetera are, for most people in this category! For me too! In wanting to spend MORE time, as much time as possible, in this state, I have researched for years, and have come face to face with the fact that I don’t really believe it’s possible! This may sound contradictory, because how can you experience a state of being, but not believe it? Nonetheless, I realise that this is what’s happening…I live in the present moment for a while and I am filled with joy, problems dissolve and everything is beautiful beyond belief! Then some little worm of a thought wriggles it way in and as if a switch has been flipped, the whole thing retreats, leaving me feeling a fool!
Wow, well you’ve been really living it and that is the promise of living in the moment beautifully put — “I am filled with joy, problems dissolve and everything is beautiful beyond belief!” I have come across this fear before, described exactly as you have… everything going so perfectly that suddenly a fear comes in, a thought, a doubt. Yes, heaven and Earth separate then don’t they. It’s like the saying “thy will be done.” We eventually realize that everything goes better when we don’t interfere, that there are unconscious forces at work, and life is not at all what it appears to be on the surface.
So you have contrasting experiences of two states, one is let go, where everything is beautiful beyond belief and then there is the little me trying to run everything. You can’t go back to not knowing :-)
Yes, ideally, that can be the case, It is quite extraordinary to me, though , that once you’ve experienced being in the present moment, you can still scuttle off back into the old way of doing/ being! I had the experience recently where I was terrified by the very fact that life could be that fantastic! I just couldn’t accept it!
Yeah! I think a big issue is trust. Can we really let go and all will be well? Then there is actually doing it. We are heavily invested in thinking, and our belief structure has its foundations in thinking, so it’s a journey to complete trust. One way to speed things up is to commit to living in the moment just in the morning. From waking to noon. This isn’t scary and it gives us a real experience of how wonderful it feels to do it. Meditation first thing also gives us a really good head start for the day, rather than being sucked straight into problem mode, we instead go to no-mind, so it makes it easy to do the morning thing.
Yes, I agree…I think that surrender, trust and acceptance are three ways of describing the same thing. It is so easy to end up thinking about being present….it can be a bit of a paradox!
Very true, but when we come from a sense of self and habits where thoughts dominate, then a thought is a required exit. The ego decides and declares its own insanity and helps in its own death. So a single thought say “stay present” can become the thought that bridges us from one state to the other until the bridge can come down and we are stable and feel secure without constant thoughts.
Happy Guide 
Thanks for this dialogue! Another big sticking point for me, is when it comes to helping loved ones, and this is where “positive thinking” and manifestation (as in “the Secret”)became very problematic. I discovered that I could indeed seem to help when I worked with affirmations and mind-maps, but then that can itself become a real burden! For example, I ended up feeling that I HAD to think about my (adult) children positively, that if I started worrying, it was my responsibility! I think that’s why it is so important first to learn how to accept and try to trust what is, so that I don’t get “hoist by my own petard” and think that I (ego) am in charge…as if!
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Well you’re responsible for your mind certainly. I would suggest that the best way to help your children is to simply be present for them. That’s the only way we can really connect with others, by being totally open. Whether they open to you is their decision. Being in this state is absolutely the best way for them to feel that you are the one to turn to if they feel they need help. You can find a way to release worry by being clear about this and then making a clear decision about what you prefer from now on. Then if a worry thought comes, you recall your decision and perhaps replace the thought with your new truth or decision then let it go. IAgain it comes down to trust. Can you trust your WHOLE minded state to tell you intuitively what is needed or is the worrying little me best to handle things? My son actively resists help and I find that unsolicited advice never gets a warm welcome from anybody. But when he WANTS my help, wow that’s a different story.
LikeLike
Reflecting on what I wrote earlier, I grew up in a perfectly nice family, where religion was what you did on Sundays (if there was a nice enough church in the area) and at Christmas and Easter. It was to do with being a part of your community, not with any REAL faith in any useful or credible “God”. Certainly no quarter was given to any other “mumbo-jumbo”…it was fun to look at astrology pages in magazines and read the odd book, that made you say “Wow! Who’d have thought it?”, before going back to the workaday world…NOW I find that experiences that I have had all my life of a very profound state, through play, through art work, etcetera are, for most people in this category! For me too! In wanting to spend MORE time, as much time as possible, in this state, I have researched for years, and have come face to face with the fact that I don’t really believe it’s possible! This may sound contradictory, because how can you experience a state of being, but not believe it? Nonetheless, I realise that this is what’s happening…I live in the present moment for a while and I am filled with joy, problems dissolve and everything is beautiful beyond belief! Then some little worm of a thought wriggles it way in and as if a switch has been flipped, the whole thing retreats, leaving me feeling a fool!
LikeLike
Wow, well you’ve been really living it and that is the promise of living in the moment beautifully put — “I am filled with joy, problems dissolve and everything is beautiful beyond belief!” I have come across this fear before, described exactly as you have… everything going so perfectly that suddenly a fear comes in, a thought, a doubt. Yes, heaven and Earth separate then don’t they. It’s like the saying “thy will be done.” We eventually realize that everything goes better when we don’t interfere, that there are unconscious forces at work, and life is not at all what it appears to be on the surface.
So you have contrasting experiences of two states, one is let go, where everything is beautiful beyond belief and then there is the little me trying to run everything. You can’t go back to not knowing :-)
LikeLike
Yes, ideally, that can be the case, It is quite extraordinary to me, though , that once you’ve experienced being in the present moment, you can still scuttle off back into the old way of doing/ being! I had the experience recently where I was terrified by the very fact that life could be that fantastic! I just couldn’t accept it!
LikeLike
If we can learn to do this one thing, everything else would drop into place, or so I think…but dang! that present moment can be elusive!
LikeLike
Yeah! I think a big issue is trust. Can we really let go and all will be well? Then there is actually doing it. We are heavily invested in thinking, and our belief structure has its foundations in thinking, so it’s a journey to complete trust. One way to speed things up is to commit to living in the moment just in the morning. From waking to noon. This isn’t scary and it gives us a real experience of how wonderful it feels to do it. Meditation first thing also gives us a really good head start for the day, rather than being sucked straight into problem mode, we instead go to no-mind, so it makes it easy to do the morning thing.
LikeLike
Yes, I agree…I think that surrender, trust and acceptance are three ways of describing the same thing. It is so easy to end up thinking about being present….it can be a bit of a paradox!
LikeLike
Very true, but when we come from a sense of self and habits where thoughts dominate, then a thought is a required exit. The ego decides and declares its own insanity and helps in its own death. So a single thought say “stay present” can become the thought that bridges us from one state to the other until the bridge can come down and we are stable and feel secure without constant thoughts.
LikeLike