“Realize deeply that the present moment is all that you ever have.

Make the Now the primary focus of your life.”

Eckhart Tolle

What happens when I am feeling out of control? When I feel I am being pummeled by life and believe I cannot take it? When I feel I cannot “do it all”, “be it all”, “stand any more”?

Sometimes just “being” with our feelings, thoughts, circumstances is so overwhelming and we will seek any way to escape…and there are myriad ways to do so.

But if we look more closely, we will find that we evade the “fight” and take “flight” by either returning to dwell in our Past or scurrying forward towards our Future…

And then we often find ourselves staying there overlong.

But Past and Future are “not Here” and so in a sense, they are “not Real”.

We may touch upon them…

But we really aren’t welcome to “stay” there because our souls were never intended to thrive there.

For Souls grow best in the Soil of Now.

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“Living” in the Past fills us with wishes to:

~Change it because we regret it

(Does regret change the Past? No, but it can be used to implement change right now.)

~Push it away because we resent it

(Does resentment change what what was done? No, but it can be regarded and molded into something positive Now.)

~Immerse ourselves because we “deserve to be punished”

(Does self-recrimination change what occurred? No, but it can help us learn to look for the “Why’s” behind such thoughts and feelings so we may begin to heal Now.)

~Hold it tightly because we cherish it.

(Holding a lovely memory allows us to relive what nurtured us. Keep it too long tho, and a sadness may appear. But to feel briefly, breathe and then release? We then receive the beautiful gifts from our past to brighten our Now for a moment or two.)

“Living” in the Future fills us with:

~Fear and anxiety over what could be…”What If?!”

(Can such thoughts really change what will be?)

~Anticipation over an expectation of a positive outcome

(Does this bring about the positive outcome? Sometimes not…and we have all known disappointments when we have grasped an expectation too tightly. But the energy of expectation and hope can be enjoyed as it touches our heart for a few breaths before we free it to move on.)

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The point here is not to say “NEVER visit either place.”

It is rather to say,

“Be watchful over how MUCH time you spend there.”

Balance is key.

“Living” in either place is not Reality. In both places…

We find ourselves, on some deeper levels, lost and ill at ease.

This is because we are…

Living where we are not intended to live.

This is because Past and Future are actually inaccessible:

We have no control over either because we are truly incompatible with LIVING there. We can’t actually DO anything while there.

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The Present IS, as Tolle so wisely states “all that you ever have.”

And yet we squander this gift over and over as we run frantically back and forth between Past and Present.

So just how much time do we spend in Now?

What are we doing right now…

With our own Now?

It is only Here Now that our opportunity for any control exists.

And also be aware: this is only regarding OUR OWN control…not anyone else’s. I am in charge of me…

And you, of you.

Him, of himself.

Them, of themselves.

Once we realize that all change in our lives can ONLY be created in our own Present Moment…

This then becomes the exact point in time we are freed.

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The Past can be visited, yes.

The Future can be planned, of course.

But they are not where we are created to dwell…to LIVE…

And as for all that we carry that does not serve us?

Look closely and we can see that it is either sourced from our being mired in the Past or perhaps by our being hypnotized as we gaze at a shimmering, shifting Future.

Our Present, though…

Feels light.

Shines as light.

It is…

Weightless.

Peaceful.

Solid.

Ever accessible.

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Pause.

Ask yourself right now:

WHERE am I “Living”…right now?

How much time is spent in my Now vs. Past or Future?

Do I need to change my mind about the length of my stays?

Look more closely at Why I stay?

Uncover what it is I am avoiding about Now because it is too hard to BE with…and decide to be with, and breathe with it, for just a few moments in spite of how I feel about it?

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Just Pausing to be curious brings you into your own unique Present.

So now…

Ask your newly unfettered self…

“What Seed Thought will I plant in the Soil of MY Gift of Now?”

Then take your Seed Thought,

Move lightly

One step

Towards that image of Planting and Growing.,,

Creating a beauty that was not there before.

See the new image in all its color?

This is You.

True.

Real.

Now.

Welcome back.