Life’s most important moment is NOW, not yesterday or tomorrow. When we live with conscious awareness of the beauty and magnificence of the present, we conserve energy and remain centered, even during the complexity of life.
Present moment awareness is vital to our growth as humans. Negativity pollutes our present moment and doesn’t allow us to fully experience the goodness of today. Past emotional baggage and hanging on to resentment, or even clinging to negative self-imagery prevents us from experiencing an empowered life. Since life is all about relationship, we need to experience people in the NOW, not in yesterday or tomorrow. We cannot experience our total beautiful self, nor engage in life fully, with so much heavy baggage. We are the ones who choose to carry our own suitcase.
Be Mindful and Learn to Let Go
There is a negative and heavy energy associated with worry, self doubt, fear, and unforgiveness. Of course, as human beings these are all phases we go through, but we need to be mindful about reorganizing and overcoming these states of being. We can never change a personal condition until things are set right inside first. Awareness of your inner state is called living a conscious life, where you are mindful of your inner and outer state. This mindfulness is a daily, spiritual practice.
Children who have cancer are challenged beyond words but are still an inspiration to everyone. Why? Despite their prognosis, their light shines bright because they live one day at a time. Their expressed hope keeps the rest of us going. They cling to nothing. They are the most illuminated people on earth. They make you think, “If life can be this good despite the odds this kid is living in, then why am I holding myself back from the present moment?” They show us something we may refuse to see about our own, potentially robust lives.
Women Tend to Cling to The Past
Women also are natural complexity managers, and manage the schedules of their children and parents very well. Often, they are so busy that they forget to rest in a space of enjoyment – with fully appreciating the moment. Even though they manage complexity well, they spend too much time on an emotional treadmill instead of directing energies toward taking in the best of life.
Women’s brains are wired differently. They tend to use the right brain more in decision making. The left brain has to do with logic, linear progression, and doing, and the right brain deals with gestalt, intuition, and being. Women activate more neurons in the brain – they have between 10 and 33% more neuronal fibers in the brain then men, in the forward part of the corpus callosum, the dense fibers that link the two hemispheres of the brain. Because they have more connecting neurons between the left and right hemisphere, they tend to use both sides of their brain more than men when problem solving. Women are much more aware of their emotional depth, while men compartmentalize and divide tasks. Men usually can tremendous focus on a task (translation: they do one thing at a time really great!) but women can perform multiple tasks simultaneously (multitasking!) and are better at integration and seeing the big picture.
So, although women manage complexity well, they often do not easily let go of superfluous details. Women are wired to keep taking it all in and need to learn how to “let go” much more than men! Because they tend to manage their “communities of people” (children, parental relationships, families) they often keep regurgitating the past, and don’t stay in the present moment as well as they should.
Today’s Tips
Do you ever wonder how to stay centered while dealing with the daily complexity of tomorrow while still feeling good about today? How can we train ourselves to stay more fully present in today, and not yesterday or tomorrow?
- View the past as a learning experience. Life events trigger our emotional collection, and we tend to interpret our current experiences through this lens. Allow the good to shine through and know the universe may be showing you a part of yourself, and your spiritual self development, that you need to see.)
- Focus on your capability to address the present. Stop agonizing over your mistakes, your parents, what someone said. Move forward. You can develop inner strength if you wish to. You can be strong if you see yourself so. Begin to transform your self-image to include inner strength because it will translate positively into your outer world.)
- Make ‘One Day at a Time’ your mantra as often as possible. Nobody ever managed the past, present, and future simultaneously very well, so give it up. If you have much to overcome, remember, the journey begins where you are not where you want to be. Don’t create more complexity in your life so you can’t enjoy what is in front of you. )
- Learn to let go. Be conscious of what you are clinging to that subtracts mental and emotional time away from you, your family, and communities. Practice forgiveness, and you’ll have more space to love life.)
- Make loving yourself a priority. It’s not about a daily shopping trip or spa appointment. Simply, be receptive to gratitude and appreciation from others. Understand the importance of your own needs.)
Today’s Affirmation
Developing the discipline to stay in the present comes from affirming your capability to be balanced and powerful. We cannot live in the present moment until we learn to sift what is really important, the real from the unreal, from our daily routines. Let’s affirm:
“Today, I stop to smell the flowers. My life is about thinking and feeling and not all about doing. By taking care of me first, I enhance my contribution to others. I am strong enough to say no when I need to, and recognize when my energies are misdirected. I focus on choosing experiences in life that contribute to my own spiritual development. I release the negativity of the past, and consciously choose to see the present as abundant, powerful, and beautiful.”
Every Blessing,
© Charlene M Proctor and The Goddess Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
For more affirmations, read The Women’s Book of Empowerment:323 Affirmations that Change Everyday Problems into Moments of Potential. Click Here to buy.
Today’s Bonus! Affirmations for Everyday Complexity:
Bad Family Get-Togethers
Even though my family members are out of sync with one another and with me, I am still capable of rising above this situation and taking away only the good. At this moment, I mentally retreat to a safe place where I am reminded that I am loved unconditionally. I visualize sweeping all negative comments and behaviors out an open door and watching them disintegrate into a bright light. I am unharmed and whole, and I ask the Divine to help people in my family reach their potential.
Stuck in Traffic
At this moment, I visualize a realm where I am not confined by space and time. In my mind, I am instantly there. Because I am already at my destination in my mind’s eye, my body catches up as soon as possible. I breathe deeply and ride the bumps in life with good humor and patience.
Meditation Super Bonus: “Spiritual Superhighway.”
Having a better understanding of our source, and our true self, is often accomplished through meditation: take a moment to connect with your center of wisdom and open your mind to the possibility that we are far more than just physical bodies. Open your mind to becoming one with a higher power with this exercise. You can have someone guide you while in a group by reading out loud the following guided meditation. Visualize the scenario below.
Sit in a comfortable position. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Gently move everything from your mind but the present moment. Imagine you are breathing in a beautiful shade of pink in a world where there is no past or future, only today. Whatever was said or done yesterday has no bearing on today, and what needs to be done tomorrow does not matter at this moment.
With every breath you take, the pink stays in your body and fills every part of you, from your fingertips to your toes. When you feel full of the beautiful color, imagine you are beginning o travel on a spiritual superhighway. You are traveling on a bright light path that reaches across the fabric of time and the universe. You are on the path to meet the Divine. As you reach the halfway point, you are embraced and lovingly thanked by God for all you do. Feel the appreciation and gratitude that the entire world has on the positive effect of your words, thoughts and deeds. Feel the essence of who you are, knowing that you are enough as you are at this moment. You are a gift to the world, and to the entire cosmos. Continue to breathe, gently pushing all superfluous thoughts aside, and focus on feelings of gratitude for being exactly where you are… right now…today.
Stay in this embrace until you feel completely loved and appreciated for all you are experiencing on earth. Visualize the Divine permeating your entire being, as you become a fusion of yourself and the Divine. As you begin to return to the earth plane with the Divine, know that you can travel on this spiritual superhighway at any time you feel lonely or overwhelmed. Know that you are loved. Take that feeling with you throughout this day, every day, and always.
© Charlene M Proctor and The Goddess Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
