Greetings beautiful being of light. Today we are going to tackle one of the hardest challenges of any spiritual awakening; living in the present. We are all at our happiest when we live in the present. Don’t believe me? Then just think about the happiest moments of your life — were you present during those moments, or were you thinking about the past or future? I am 100% confident that you were living in the present for all those moments. When you watch young children or animals, you never see them thinking about the future or past, they are only thinking about what they are doing that second. That’s why they are so innocent and spontaneous, and such a joy to watch. This is what we should strive to be like — in the Bible, Jesus was quoted as saying “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”.

So why are we not always living in the present then? What happens to us from when we are young children that changes us? Well, we end up developing the thinking mind, the ego. Animals do not have an ego, and young children have not yet formed the ego, and so they can easily live in presence. This doesn’t mean we should strive to get rid of our ego, you will find that a near impossible task. We must observe the ego and disassociate from it in order to return to that child-like presence.

When you are present, you do not have to think about anything; you are just being. That is why the ego does not live in the present, because there is no use for it there. It can only think about the past or future. When thinking about past events that it deems as bad, it dwells on them, causing depression, anger, guilt, shame, and low self-esteem. Even when it thinks about good times you had in the past, it will nostalgically think of them as “the good old days” and it will make you believe that those good times are gone, making it seem like the present moment is not as good. When the ego thinks about possible bad events in the future, it causes feelings of anxiety and fear. Even when it thinks about good possible events in the future, it will come at it from the angle of things that are lacking from the present moment, causing boredom and frustration. So there is no good that can come from listening to the ego with regards to thinking about the past or future. And according to a Harvard study, we spend 50% of our time awake not thinking about what we are doing — that is a staggering waste of time.

Think about how many times in the day your ego has thoughts like: “I’ll be happy when I have this or that” or “If this happens, then I’ll be happy”. It may not be conscious thoughts, but subconsciously these thoughts are going on all the time. But the ego is never fully satisfied, even if it gets what it wants; it will always have a desire. Everything has advantages and disadvantages — that comes from duality. Ever wondered why the grass is always greener on the other side? The ego is constantly focusing on the disadvantages of what you have and the advantages of what you don’t have. It is constantly resisting the present moment. Much unhappiness in life comes from this resistance to the present moment. It is the root cause of desires, restlessness and boredom. Boredom is simply not accepting the present moment and thinking you need something else to be content. Restlessness is feeling like you need to be doing something different.

Even when you are not thinking about past or future events, many of us are still subconsciously looking at life through the lens of the past. Let’s do an exercise — pick something to look at in the room or place you are currently in. Try to notice the subconscious thoughts you have about that thing — you might have a thought about how you like the colour, how the object felt the last time you touched it, the last times you used that object, the smell of the object that you remember, any past experiences with that object. Now notice how each of these thoughts make you feel — the particular colours or shape may trigger a happy or slightly depressing emotion in you, perhaps you don’t like the texture or the smell. Now shift your focus to something else in the room — notice how your inner emotion has changed since you were looking at the first object. It’s a subtle but nevertheless real change in emotion, and it is thoughts that trigger emotions. What thoughts and feelings do you have about this second object? Now look around the room and notice the subtle changes within you as you shift your focus to different things. The same happens with people — when you see someone you know, you might have thoughts about previous times you spoke to each other or saw each other, or the last thing you heard about them. Even when you see a stranger, you probably have thoughts about what kind of person you think they’d be, you may have opinions about their appearance or dress sense based on past experiences, or they may remind you of someone you know who you like or don’t like. In this way, you are constantly looking at reality with the lens of the past. You are concentrating on what is familiar.

What if I told you that the past and future do not actually ever exist? Think about it; at this very moment, the only time you can say is truly real is the present moment. The past was previous present moments that do not exist anymore. The future is possible present moments that have not yet happened. The present moment is the only time that is happening now. Think about it this way — if you were to get amnesia, your past is erased but the present moment can never be erased from you. Only illusory times can be erased. The past and future only exist in your mind when you believe in separation. The past and future are ways to separate different present moments in a linear fashion. In a 5D reality, the only time that ever exists is the present moment. In this state of consciousness, you look at everything and everyone as completely new, even if you have seen that object before or met that person before.

But how can you look at yourself and others as completely new each day? What if you did something really unloving to someone, or someone did something really unkind to you? How can you look at them brand new? As we discussed in the last topic, forgiveness is the path to the 5D world. By truly forgiving, you can forget the past about yourself and others, allowing you to live in the present moment. Forgiveness is only needed if you are thinking about the past. It does not matter what you or anyone else has done, what matters is right now. If people don’t forgive you and are still holding things you did in the past against you, it is their problem as they have chosen to think about the past. It is this choice that keeps them in unhappiness.

Presence is the state of joy, bliss, peace and happiness. It is where enlightenment, samadhi, or heaven is found. That’s why Jesus once said “The kingdom of heaven is within you now”. If I was to ask you “What do you need right this second as you read this in order to be happy?”, what would you say? Nothing, right? That’s because you never need anything else when you are in the present moment. And you can go from one present moment to the next, all throughout your life, realising that you don’t need anything else right now in order to be happy. Desire only comes from thinking about the future.

Often people mistake living in the present as just spending all your money now and doing silly reckless stuff. But this is not what living in the present is all about. When you live in the present, you are being your true self. Only your true self lives in the present, it is your ego that lives in the past and future. When you become your true self, even for a few moments, it’s not like your true self is going to start doing reckless stuff. No, in fact, it will make you do the things that are right for you at the time, while also having fun along the way. Living in the present means admitting that anything could happen at any moment and you are open to whatever comes your way. When people do reckless things, perhaps when they think that the world will be over tomorrow, they are still thinking about life from a future perspective; they are thinking about how the world will end in the future. When you live in the present and become your true self, you are able to do what your higher self wants you to do and experience without the resistance of the ego.

Living in the present doesn’t mean not planning for the future either. For instance, if an opportunity to start a pension came up in your life, and you felt that your higher self was telling you to take the opportunity, then you should start that pension. If you had the sudden inner urge or feeling in your heart to start saving in order to buy a house, then this is your higher self telling you to do it. If you feel you should start a pension because you are worried about the future then this is not coming from your higher self. Similarly, if you feel you should get married or buy a house soon just because your friends are doing it, this is again coming from the fear of standing out. If it is a desire arising out of fear, then it is surely coming from the ego. If you get a sudden or spontaneous inner urge or feeling in your heart to do something, this is your higher self guiding you to do it. The main thing to know is that your higher self makes sure you always have what you need for each moment of your life. Therefore, there is never any need to worry about the future. I have put a link below to a guided meditation that can help you seek guidance from your higher self:

So how do we do it? How can we stay present in this world that seems to always force us to think about the past or future? Here are my top tips:

1) Meditation — Use meditation to notice the thoughts of the ego, and to realise what thoughts about the past and future you have each day. Then, you can use the time to disassociate from the ego and feel the freedom from thinking. I have put a link below to a guided meditation to help you be more present:

2) Conscious breathing — A lot of our day is spent having shallow automatic breaths, but when you intentionally focus on taking deep breaths into the abdomen, or navel, it takes your attention off the thinking mind and makes you more relaxed. An additional trick that I use is to focus on the gap between the in breath and out breath — it’s a brief moment of peace and bliss.

3) Forgiveness — By forgiving yourself and others, you can forget about past actions and take yourself and others as they are now.

4) What’s your next thought? — Once you catch yourself in an egoic stream of thoughts, simply detach and then ask yourself “what will be my next thought?” and wait in anticipation. What you’ll realise is that when you do this, the next thought doesn’t come. That is because you have brought the state of present awareness to the thinking mind.

5) Gratitude — By regularly stopping to think about the things you are grateful for throughout the day, you are turning your focus to the now. You are consistently recognising the things that you love in your life, and love can only be experienced in the present.

6) Sensory Perception — At any time you catch yourself not being present, switch your focus to your senses. What can you see? What can you smell? What can you hear? What does the chair that you are sitting on feel like? This way you turn to the here and now.

7) Amnesia — Don’t actually hit your head and give yourself amnesia, but just pretend that you have it and see everything as if it is your first time. Ever notice how children and animals are always fascinated by everything? It’s because everything is all new to them. It’s that child-like wonder that we want back.

8) Divine Guidance — Always notice how your heart feels, and listen to it as it’s what your higher self uses to communicate to you. If you get the feeling in your heart to do something then do it. If not, then there is no need to do anything.

9) Do things that you love — when we do things that we love, or are around people that we love, we are more present. By spending more time with these things and less time on things where we fade off into the thinking mind, we can be present for a greater part of the day.

10) Don’t be predictable — When we do the exact same things every day, it is easy to go on autopilot and get lost in your thoughts. By changing something or doing new things each day, you are forced to be a bit more present. It could be small things like changing the way you brush your teeth or your shower routine. Or it could be things like trying a new exercise class or meeting new people at a networking event. You may even push the boat out and try the adventurous activities that you have always wanted to do.

Thank you for reading. I know some of you may have questions on how to apply living in the present to specific parts of your life, so please feel free to ask me through the comments section below. Alternatively, we can talk things through during a free 1-on-1 spiritual support session, which you can book through my website www.highvibelivin.co.uk . You can also book free healing sessions, or donate love or money to my channel, through my website. Peace, love and joy to you all.