There is a basic tenet in Eastern Philosophies around being in the present moment. And we can believe we are living to this when we caught up in our everyday stuff. Yet there is an important distinction we need to be aware of.
When we are “caught up” in the everyday, we are on automatic, following historical habits of reaction, or thinking. We are doing the moment, not being in the moment.
When we are truly here now, it is a spacious place, full of possibility. We have choices about how we react, how we proceed, what we do next, how we think about things.
This is when everything is open to possibility. Instead of saying “this must come next,” we can say, “what shall I do next?” Instead of saying,”It’s obvious,” we can say, “what are the possibilities?”
This spaciousness of the moment offers us several very valuable gifts.
- A release from habitual thinking and doing
- A break from historical assumptions
- A sense of controlling our own destiny
- A broader view of our future
We can apply it to “big stuff” – times of transition in our lives, and we can also get the habit of taking that break by applying it to the “small stuff”- the rush into the next task on the list, the move from duties at work to duties at home. It takes us a breathspace to move into being in the moment, and a breathspace to recognise we have choices, and one more breathspace to make a choice that is more comfortable and uses possibility instead of necessity as the driver.
Can you spare 3 breathspaces once in a while in your busy life, to enhance your possibilities? Have a go, and see how much richer life can be, with such a simple application of being in the moment!!
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