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 YOU
ALREADY KNOW how important it is to live in the present moment.
But what does living in the moment really look like? Feel like? And,
most important, how do you actually do it?
Most of
the time, our disconnection from the present moment is unconscious.
We spend a large part of our lives blocking out what we don't want
to acknowledge and accept. Difficult emotions, most of the time, are
at the root of what we resist. In resisting emotion, we not only lose
our connection to the present moment, but also to our vitality, our
innate joy, and our power to heal and grow.
The following
practices are designed to help you find out when, where, and why  you
might have shut down, and then to bring you back to life as swiftly
and enjoyably as possible.
Give yourself
some pressure-free time to play with these practices. Their effects
will be cumulative. At a level deeper than everyday awareness, your
being will begin to blossom. You will feel more peace, love, and contentment
than you previously thought possible.
Inner Smile
 Feeling
joyful is not necessary for presence, but it's one of the most
powerful ways to induce it. Joy creates an almost instantaneous sense
of expansion - an inner smile that's like a warm bath. Some
call this warm bath "flow" or "spirit." No
matter the name, experiencing it naturally connects us to ourselves
and to everyone and everything around us.
The PRACTICE: Think about someone or something that you love. This
could be a child, a place in nature, or a favorite memory. Whatever
you choose, make sure that just reflecting upon it creates an automatic
inner smile. Then surrender to that inner smile. Let it light you
up. Feel it spread through your body and even beyond it, uniting you
joyously with your surroundings.
Be Passionately Average
 Striving
for excellence is how we change, grow, and reach our full
potential. But since we can't excel at everything, it's
also how we become self-critical and perfectionistic. Urging ourselves
toward unreachable perfection robs us of the ease and spontaneity
that are the hallmark of the Now. But exulting in activities we enjoy,
with no intention of great achievement, is a foolproof perfectionist's
cure.
The PRACTICE: Are there pursuits you enjoy but can't do well?
Or ones that you think you'd enjoy but avoid due to lack of
aptitude? Pick one or two and pursue them with complete gusto. Perhaps
this means salsa dancing with two left feet, knitting sweaters with
lopsided patterns, or bowling a record-setting series of gutter balls.
Whatever the pursuit, perform it with the intention of celebrating
your mediocrity rather than cringing at it. If and when a cringe does
occur, just laugh yourself through it and keep going. If possible
judgment by others makes this practice too daunting, do it with a
friend who's willing to be just as goofily gung-ho.
Befriend Your Pain
Whenever
we feel physical pain, our instinctive response is a whole-body flinch.
We immediately gird against the pain in order to get rid of it, which
often prolongs and intensifies the pain instead. Eventually, the effects
of such a flinch can become worse than the pain itself. The opposite
approach - befriending the pain - might seem like choosing
to suffer. Actually, it's a rare form of presence that almost
always leads to significant relief.
The
PRACTICE: Reserve this practice for the next time you have a headache,
muscle ache, or similar bodily pain. Begin when you become aware of
your flinch, both its physical aspects and any thought patterns that
arise. Gently relax your body as much as possible, and then place
your focus directly at the center of the pain. Breathe into it over
and over, noticing everything you can about the pain.
Is it hot or cold? Sharp or dull? Does it stay steady or fluctuate?
Is a shape or color associated with it? What else does it communicate
to you? Continue breathing into the pain and noticing everything about
it until it departs completely or becomes more tolerable.
Befriend Your Pain (Revisited)
Just
like physical pain, emotional pain resides in the body. There's
nowhere else we ever feel it. But most of the time we feel it only
for a few moments before reverting to the same kind of flinch that
physical pain evokes. An emotional flinch differs from a physical
flinch in one key way, however. It usually lodges somewhere specific - the
gut, chest, shoulders, neck, temples - and traps the pain inside.
Befriending emotional pain requires that we first access the flinch,
which then allows the stuck emotion to release. Such a release, though
it's often intense, is almost always incredibly freeing.
The PRACTICE: The next time you feel a constriction in any part of
your body and have an inkling that it's emotion-related, gently
place your attention at that location. Don't try to change or
understand the sensation. Just let it be exactly as it is. Soon this
acceptance will allow the constriction to release. Then you'll
be face to face with the emotion it temporarily blocked. Keep your
attention on this emotion as it wells up and begins to move through
you. Is it easier to feel than you imagined? Do you prefer this feeling
to remaining shut down?
©2006
Raphael Cushnir
It is here that PlanetLightworker concludes How Now: The Series.
We hope you enjoyed it!
Raphael's
book
How Now: 100 Ways to Celebrate the Present Moment
is available online at www.HowNow100.com.
Send
a beautiful, poetic E-Card FREE from Raphael's
website.
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