Journal yourself into the ‘present moment’

by Vic Shayne
author
The Self is a Belief: The idea that causes suffering

One of the most used tropes of so-called spiritual teachings is “the present moment.” Live in the present moment, they say, or be in the present. Find the power in the now. But what does this really imply, and how can you move past a popular phrase, an overused, misunderstood concept, and beyond your own sense of self?

Of course we all live in the present moment. This cannot be otherwise. Everything is only happening right now. Anything that is in the past is dead and gone. And this includes thought. All we have are memories and, of course, memories are things of the past.

We all create a sense of self out of thoughts. These thoughts are imposed upon us from the earliest age by parents, authority figures, and so on, and the aggregate of these secondhand thoughts about who we are create a sense of self, the “me.” Since thoughts are only from the past, this means that the image of who we are is from the past. Thus, when you’re thinking about yourself or others, you are not in the present moment because you are thinking of images.

Have you ever asked yourself whether you can truly attend only to the present? This can only be done when thought comes to an end, because thought is already the past as soon as the thought arises into your awareness. Only a clear mind is attending to the present moment. On the other hand, a mind full of images, preconceived notions, and information is projecting the past into the present and into the future. When we say, “I am,” we are wide open to all possibilities, but when we say “I am this” or “I am that,” we are stuck in the past.

How can we begin to grasp the tremendous implications of being in the present moment? This concept implies something about the very nature of who you are and how you came to be. When I say “you,” I mean the sense of self— the one you call “me” — that is the result of all the psychological conditioning of the past that has cemented your feelings, perspectives, demeanor, interests, fears, likes and dislikes, need for pleasure, desires, and the full range of mental tendencies from anger to greed to whatever else makes you and everyone else suffer.

Yes, the present is now. So what does this mean for you personally? While there is only one present moment, the idea of a present moment may elicit different things for each of us.

Why do you hold onto certain thoughts while letting others go; and how do these thoughts distract you? One of the best ways to explore this is by journaling — writing down your feelings as they arise without thinking about what you are writing or trying to be a moral voice. Simply write ideas as they arise and see where the ideas about a present moment come from and where they go. Consider what exists only in the past and how you are projecting the past into the future in the form of worry and anxiety. Consider what ideas prevent you from only being attentive to what is present. You may want to prompt yourself by starting your sentence with: “I worry about what’s going to happen, because when I was a child _______________________…” See where this takes you.

The more you enquire into your own sense of self, which is the person you take yourself to be, the more you will unravel your own fears and be able to live in the present. We have to let go of the past to embrace the present, but if we continue to embrace and identify with ideas then we are not letting go. The result is a perpetuation of the “me” that causes suffering. And who likes to suffer, anyway?