Living In The Moment {A guide to recreating your reality}

sweet this will help those who want to focus on true consciousness but there are those that will still laugh, unwilling to learn

reply to post by bringthelight


have you ever meditated an begun the process of opening your third eye... where that molecular-like light begins to grow within the darkness you view??



i couldnt help but get a description of relativity to your comment about "bubbles of thought" etc.


When i started meditating.. i described this occurence like, "thinking in zero".


am i right??


please PM me.

I am truly amazed at the amount of people that are going through what I have and are so interested in the topic. It shows that even in the most complex and difficult of times, people are changing and evolving for the better.

As everything gets more complex and creatures are faced with extinction, a truly amazing change is right around the corner. More and more people are realizing that in order to survive on this planet we all must learn to live in the now. I can feel the massive shift in consciousness coming.

This is why I started this thread and I am truly blown away by all of the intelligent and helpful conversations we are having. Thank you to all who have participated so far.

reply to post by dtice


I am still catching myself everyday going in and out of awareness. Eating food is one of those times. I still wonder if there's something I can do like a tattoo or an alarm on vibrate in my pocket to remind me every so often.

Someone earlier mentioned that they had to remind themselves every ten seconds. Something tells me that an alarm would kind of ruin the process of just using your intention throughout the day. Part of me says doing it on your own is part of the learning process of being able to pick up on your higher self talking. I could be completely wrong about that and if anyone has had any success with some sort of reminder throughout the day I would love to hear about it.

You have to be persistent to become more aware. I have had these thinking habits ingrained for close to 20 years and breaking a habit isn't easy.

Great thread

It's a nice coincidence that this should be brought up actually.
The last several years I've gotten wrapped up in life to the point of madness. I started working, started college, moved out of my house, started paying bills, you know the drill. All of this got me distracted from what I used to be so close to; nature. When I was 12 I would always go outside and relax with the trees, when I was 14 I would pay really close attention to the weather patterns, I would even tell my parents what the weather would be like for a bout 3 days ahead of time. All of that work was torn away in the last few years with the onset of "life."

I don't get a whole lot of free time but today I managed to scrape about an hour between class and work, so I went to the small park in the small city I work in. I found myself a tree on a hill, the tree couldn't have been more than 70 years old because it wasn't very large but it was more than large enough to shade me and block the wind. Anyway, I found this tree and sat underneath it; I ended up seeing some rope tied to one of its branches so I climbed up and took that off (it wasn't serving any purpose); back to the bottom of the tree I went and I just sat there and relaxed. I wasn't expecting it but I went into something almost like a trance; it was like a waking sleep. I was completely conscious and what not but my body was asleep. It was probably one of the neatest things ever.
When I woke myself up to get to work I felt like everything that was bothering me was just gone; like it was pointless to be bothered.

I'm not saying that the tree put me into a trance or that I had an OBE or anything of that nature; this was not anything more than natural. It was just something I haven't felt in a long long time.

=)

Great topic! Life is quite the paradox.

I can learn from my mistakes, but I can never go back and change them. I can use that wisdom to plan for the future, but I can never truly know what the future holds. As the OP says, you must live in the now. However, now is both infinitely small and large. Now can be a single second, divided a thousand times, and each of those one-thousandths of a second can be divided a thousand times themselves. Can you live in every moment? And yet, if you think about it, the moment of now never truly ends. It is continuous, infinite. To live, one must live now, because it is the only time that there is. It is important to be mindful of living life and its every infinite moment with the right effort. It seems impossible, I know. But what counts is the effort. It will be difficult, but difficulty is just a lack of understanding that can be easily overcome with the right effort..


..taken from Shunryu Suzuki's, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, who made these observations while viewing a waterfall in Yosemite..

the water comes down like a curtain thrown from the top of the mountain. It does not seem to come down swiftly, as you might expect; it seems to come down very slowly because of the distance. And the water does not come down as one stream, but is separated into many tiny streams. From a distance it looks like a curtain. And I thought it must be very difficult for each drop of water to come down from the top of such a high mountain. It takes time, you know, a long time, for the water finally to reach the bottom of the waterfall. And it seems to me, that our human life may be like this. We have many difficult experiences in our life. But at the same time, I thought, the water was not originally separated, but was one whole river. Only when it is separated does it have some difficulty in falling…after we are separated by birth from this oneness, as the water falling from the waterfall is separated by the wind and rocks, then we have feeling. You have difficulty because you have feeling, you attach to the feeling you have without knowing just how this kind of feeling is created. When you do not realize that you are one with the river, or one with the universe, you have fear. Whether it is separated into drops or not, water is water. Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact we have no fear of death anymore, and we have no actual difficulty in our life.

Originally posted by bringthelight


Realizing that you haven't been living in the moment is the first step. What you have done in the past means NOTHING. It doesn't exist. Whats amazing about our minds is we have the ability to completely reset. You have realized that you were more peaceful and in the moment at a certain time and the only thing holding you back, is thinking you don't have the ability to get back there.

Let me tell you right now, you can always come back to the present moment. Its literally all we have. Any time you have these feelings of anxiety brought on by dwelling in the past, observe your belly and breathe. You are putting your energy and thoughts into an illusion. Breathe deep and let it all fade away. Its not easy and it takes practice, but things will start to click and you will be amazed at some of the epiphanies and revelations you will have.

If you have any more questions or would like to talk to me privately, u2u me and I would be glad to help

Yea, I might send you a privat message, because I need help getting out of the past just as much as I need help with getting out of the future.

But I have created a life in which the past always comes back to haunt me. It always comes back to haunt me, and then I spend hours dwelling on it.

I know what you speak is true, and this is probably the most important thing we can do in our lives (live in the NOW). And you said it best, this is easier said than done and it takes practise.

S & F.

In the mean time I'll try to follow the adive that we've always ignored... stop and breathe.

I apollogize that I didn't read every post, but OP I concur. Give love and hope for return. If not recieved, just keep giving. When you do this you are in tune to the creator's orchestra and any ......ANY circumstance will be welcome....even to the begining of the lions jaws...as opposed to denying the truth


Take me if you dare . Bring a plattoon and beware.

There is also something interesting about emotions some of you may not have known about some of there more physical effects on our bodies. As you may know chemicals are produced by the brain they i believe are referred to as peptides. When we feel a certain emotion a chemical representation is also created and our bodies get used to this and also become addicted to it. We are addicted to our own feelings which is why you find that it maybe difficult to overcome depression, infact its because your body physically craves that feeling and this is why simply taking medication which is litrally just dopamine doesn't really work because it may make you feel happy but its totally not in context with your thoughts. You'll see people who are happy alot of the time or locked into certain emotions alot because they are used to that certain chemical, obviously this can become quite complex. I believe this why people who use meditation and do not get attatched to things so easily do this because they realise that having a very focused and balanced emotional feeling will keep them out of being sucked in by any 1 emotion too greatly. Also about the dopamine in medication it's only a synthetic version of the natural chemical produced so it won't be exactly the same and it's most likely that the levels in medication could be quite high but im unsure about this although if they are this will create a sensation that will make natural feelings not as great as the dopamine levels will far exceed that of the norms and give the effect that you are not as happy and theres also the fact that you will become addicted to the synthetic version of dopamine also.

Also in our modern living we get to used to being secure and comfortable after a while it becomes very normal and we really stop appreciating parts of our lives that are so consistantly similar and then anything that doesn't go to plan becomes irratating and annoying. As you may notice this happens very often as you get older but as a child it definatly occurs alot with all the contradictory things you are told oh don't do this, don't do that, hey sit in front of the tv because i have no time or desire to communicate with you good old television will make you shut up. So as we continuously have things change in our one way set minds it just aggrivates us more and more and all we notice is how our "norm's" go wrong and not to how they should as they are said they will go through television and the media and what you apparently are supposed to aspire to. Take love as an example i believe that many people's idea of it has been destroyed by ficticious works and television because you see it as a child alot but never understand it until later mostly because not many people can describe it other than there televsion view of what love is. I feel that many people go looking for love as if it's going to be magic and you'll find someone who will be perfect when this can't happen there must be a duality of all things where it is "bad" and "good". This is another reason why we never understand life as we are forced to believe there are "bad" and "good" but bad is just an unwanted outcome to someone who doesnt like the fact they can't control it, well instead of being scared by it why not embrace and understand it and then you will have no need to fear because if you look at most peoples fears, they really don't know that much about it or have experienced it very much. It's alot to do with the mystery of it as our imaginations can make up anything and amplify the fear alot more because it can litrally make up what you think will happen when you fear something rather than seeing the reality that isnt so bad. But about love you see i think many relationships break apart because they feel as if when any kind of "bad" thing happens its like this person isnt for you because you see all these perfect matches through media and it just makes people never feel as if they find the right person.

[edit on 1-4-2009 by steven barnes]

reply to post by steven barnes


"Also about the dopamine in medication it's only a synthetic version of the natural chemical produced so it won't be exactly the same and it's most likely that the levels in medication could be quite high but im unsure about this although if they are this will create a sensation that will make natural feelings not as great as the dopamine levels will far exceed that of the norms and give the effect that you are not as happy and theres also the fact that you will become addicted to the synthetic version of dopamine also."

A few corrections are required here. While you have the general underlying idea correct as per drug induced euphoria, the only medication that provides a synthetic version of dopamine is L-dopa (really not even a medication per se) which is used in Parkinson's. Opiates, amphetamines, coc aine, Ritalin, and especially X MMDA or MDMA? will cause an increase in various neurotransmitters of which dopamine is one. At least one of these drugs (the last one) works like an instantaneous super SSRI, releasing massive amounts of serotonin in the brain quickly. There are drugs which block dopamine receptors which are used in antipsychotic and atypical antipsychotic medications (IMO they are prescribed off label far too much and the cure is definitely worse that the disease). Your point as per meditation used instead of drugs which affect the neurotransmitters as being preferable is excellent--IMO if more people engaged in daily meditation the pharmaceutical corporations would 'suffer' instead of all their victims. SSRIs should be banned--I have personally observed these giving people waking nightmares, screaming and all, and a lot of psychotic episode based crime and suicides are directly attributable from these. Consider that SSRIs and '___' work on serotonin, and it only requires 25 mcg. to achieve the latter's extreme effects. This post is simply to clarify things a bit more. The meditation and daily practices written about here are progress which if consistently practiced will make the desire to use drugs decline.

reply to post by bringthelight


Excellent thread, bringthelight.

I've been trying to do this for many years now. It's always been a fascination of mine of how the mind seems to 'lock' you away from the 'here and now' and simply indulge your senses with all the pretty and flashy bits that otherwise distract you from the real world.

The breathing technique you mention is something I also do. And it does work wonders. Though, the mind is a powerful thing and I often get locked back into the ego and endless thoughts quickly

But I do get times when, almost as though a cover was pulled back and suddenly, briefly, my mind is detached from the worries and thought processes and I'm just 'observing' the world. I'm not talking astral or OOB or anything like that. It's just as though my mind has 'let go' of the ego's desires, just for a moment, and let me just glimpse the world as it is. Fabulous moments.

For me it started many years ago when a mate from Uni got me into Theta meditation. My mate would always say, "Take a few steps back" and it took time for me to see what he meant by that.

Amongst some of the strange events and images Theta med generated for me, was a recurring mental image of dozens of people in a circle, all facing inwards, looking at a very bright and flashing globe that is 'their world(s)'. No one moved, no one blinked -- they all just stared forward and down at this brightly flashing globe. And I'm in that circle, but in this mental image, I can look to the left and right and see there is more to out there than that tiny little flashing globe everyone is fixated on.

I know it's just an image conjured up by my own mind and certainly isn't anything other-wordly, but it's something that helps me realise that what I indulge in isn't actually what I really want, and that there's so much more out there if I could just let go and relax.

Now for me, my goal in that mental image would be to turn around and see what's actually behind me...

reply to post by carole9999


Aren't anti-depressants containing chemicals which will induce dopamine effects which will cause you to feel happy even though you have all these thoughts of things you are confused about and hung up on, surely this won't really make these problems go away when this feeling of happyness is induced from nothing. Although i suppose your thoughts change when you feel certain emotions as it's inherent the relationship between your bodies reactions to external reality and emotions, but still don't you think this will cause an effect that will make you not really deal with what you were angry about and understand it thus making more confusion?

No one was quick with a question, no matter how important, and no one was pressed for an answer. A pause giving time for thought was the truly courteous way of beginning and conducting a conversation.

--Chief Luther Standing Bear

Mindfulness. Nothing matters but right now, no matter what I can give lots of quotes, but better not
I am also exercising this, everyday, almost all the time, results start to show. I mean not "results" like in doing this for a reward. There is no reward, punishment, or other stuff









[edit on 1-4-2009 by pai mei]

It is amazing how the world seems to be intentionally "arranged" in such a way as to keep you from enjoying the "now".

I believe it is intentional,it is a way to steal your true power away,to rush you and distract you so you cannot focus on the fact that nothing really means anything at all,not here anyway.

We are manipulated by fear,we fear what the future will bring,we fear something that does not yet exist.

We are manipulated with our past,with records of mistakes kept by more powerful entities than us to suppress our potential in dealing with the future that we fear.

The past and the future mean nothing,there is only now.

The sheep love the fear and anxiety.

Moo.

Originally posted by odi_gid_niria
I know this sounds silly but my depression is characterized by fearing what other people think and may do in the future to me based on my past. I feel highly threatened by others constantly.

If that's the case -- I'd suggest getting away from the people and places that keep you mindful of your passed, even if temporary. Go to a place in which you are forced, to some extent, to stay occupied in the now. Keep busy doing something productive. Go to a third world nation and volunteer to help in some way. Not only will this keep you occupied, it will allow you to come to the realization of how lucky you really are to be living in the now. Also take the time in your day to practice the things taught in this thread.

You'll know when your ready to go back home, and when you do, you'll know how to confront and overcome those that only see your passed.

Originally posted by steven barnes
reply to post by carole9999

 

Aren't anti-depressants containing chemicals which will induce dopamine effects which will cause you to feel happy even though you have all these thoughts of things you are confused about and hung up on, surely this won't really make these problems go away when this feeling of happyness is induced from nothing. Although i suppose your thoughts change when you feel certain emotions as it's inherent the relationship between your bodies reactions to external reality and emotions, but still don't you think this will cause an effect that will make you not really deal with what you were angry about and understand it thus making more confusion?

There are a variety of antidepressants, from MAOI inhibitors to tri and quadricyclics and now the most prevalent, selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. The do act indirectly on dopamine, but do not provide the neurotransmitter itself. Chemically suppressing emotion is the same, whether it is done by alcohol, or legal/illegal drugs. Emotions are vital to our experience in life, as long wisdom is used in expressing them. Any of these can cause harm to our lives because we don't deal with our emotions and with the more extreme substances neglect our problems until they intensify and multiply.

A tribe from Brazil :
www.ascentofhumanity.com...

Most strikingly, the Piraha are unable to count. Not only do they have no words for numbers, their language also lacks any quantifiers such as "many", "some", or "all". Even more amazing, they apparently are incapable of even learning to count. Despite eight months of sustained efforts, speech pathologist Peter Gordon failed to teach them, even with the Piraha's enthusiastic cooperation. They cannot mimic a series of knocks because they cannot keep count of how many there have been

There is simply no verbal way to fix an event at a specific point in the past or future, for Piraha doesn't have words for tomorrow, yesterday, next month, or last year. The sentence, "Let us meet here in three days"—or even, "Let us meet here tomorrow"—is inexpressible in Piraha. Piraha has only twelve time words at all, such as day, night, full moon, high water, low water, already, now, early morning, and another day. None of them allow the establishment of a time line. Accordingly, the Piraha have no sense of history, no stories that reach back before living memory, and no creation myths. "Pirahas say, when pressed about creation, for example, simply 'Everything is the same', meaning nothing changes, nothing is created."

The Piraha similarly abstain from projection into the future, sharing with other hunter-gatherers the nonchalance and disdain for food storage described in Chapter One. They are aware of food storage methods such as drying, salting, and so forth, but only use these techniques to make items for barter. For themselves they store no food, explaining to Everett, "I store meat in the belly of my brother". In other words, says Everett, "They share with those who need meat, never storing for the future." A further level of interpretation of this statement is also possible, however: taken literally, it suggests a different conception of self-interest and therefore a different conception of self. To help another is to help oneself. We are not separate.

Like other hunter-gatherers, the Piraha have few material possessions, and those they do possess are very impermanent: baskets that last a day or two, dwellings that last until the next storm. Their material culture makes no provision for security in the future, no provision for progress, betterment, or accumulation.

A Zen story
www.ashidakim.com...

A university student while visiting Gasan asked him: "Have you ever read the Christian Bible?"

"No, read it to me," said Gasan.

The student opened the Bible and read from St. Matthew: "And why take ye thought for rainment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these... Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself."

Gasan said: "Whoever uttered those words I consider an enlightened man."

The student continued reading: "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened."

Gasan remarked: "That is excellent. Whoever said that is not far from Buddhahood."

And something about time and clocks from the same book "The Ascent of Humanity" :
www.ascentofhumanity.com...

The ultimate and perhaps most significant conversion of reality into numbers is the measurement of time. Clocks do to time what name and number do to the material world: they reduce it, make it finite. And what is time, but life itself? Time is experience, process, the flow of being. By measuring time, by converting it into numbers, we rob it of its infinitude and uniqueness in precisely the same way that nouns and numbers reduce the physical world. Time measurement turns a succession of unique moments into just so many seconds, minutes, and hours, and denies the particularity of each person's subjective experience of them.

To be punctual is the onus of a slave toward a master or a subject toward a king. Today we are all subject to schedules imposed by the machine requirements of precision, regularity, and standardization. We think of machines as our servants, but our constant rush to be on time says otherwise.

Immersed in linear time measurement, it is hard to appreciate the audacity of dividing up the day into standard units, manmade hours, minutes, and seconds, that are deliberately unconnected to natural processes and therefore "objective." The idea, to paraphrase Thomas Pynchon, that every second is of equal length and irrevocable is only as recent as the clock.ii Or as Paul Campos puts it, "Until very recently there was no such thing as '6:17 a.m.'"iii

The clock translates heavenly movement into earthly routine. Time measurement profoundly accelerated human separation from nature.

[edit on 1-4-2009 by pai mei]

This is very good information! I have been heading this direction but it sure helps to see it in writing.

Thank you for posting this!

reply to post by bringthelight


I have been reading the posts wriiten on ATS for some time and after reading this topic I was compelled to join. I would like to add to the discussion as I believe that this subject is something that I have been going through personally for some time now. I believe the brain is merely a regulator between the soul and our physical body. A CPU. Our emotions are predicted by "self talk". I have gone through a massive paradigm shift in the last two weeks and I have realised that we can "program" the brain through self talk. What we input into our self conscious creates a reality that we live on a day to day basis. We can create a paradise or a hell. It is up to us. My theory is that there is a negative and a positive energy. We are all on the "grid". What you put out is what you receive. People come and go into your life and will either be a giver or a taker of life enegy. We make the choice.
Do we want to take the blue pill or the red pill??

[edit on 1-4-2009 by mindXpander]

[edit on 1-4-2009 by mindXpander]

Originally posted by chiponbothshoulders
It is amazing how the world seems to be intentionally "arranged" in such a way as to keep you from enjoying the "now".

I believe it is intentional,it is a way to steal your true power away,to rush you and distract you so you cannot focus on the fact that nothing really means anything at all,not here anyway.

We are manipulated by fear,we fear what the future will bring,we fear something that does not yet exist.

We are manipulated with our past,with records of mistakes kept by more powerful entities than us to suppress our potential in dealing with the future that we fear.

The past and the future mean nothing,there is only now.

The sheep love the fear and anxiety.

Moo.

Let me ask you a question; if it was as easy as flipping a switch and you could live in the now 24/7 tomorrow, would it be as amazing, powerful, and transforming as working at it by focused intention over the span of a few years?

I have noticed that things you have to work for are far more rewarding in the end. If this blessing was just given to you, you wouldn't appreciate it as much. Life is all about the journey, and the fact that living in the now is a challenge in today's society, will make it all more worth doing in the end.

A great analogy I always think of is living with New England weather. Everyone always complains about the winter and how bad it is. Guess who appreciates summer more, someone in California or New England? When spring comes around and everything starts melting and growing it is absolutely amazing. I cherish the summers here because we have to deal with frigid mornings and shoveling off our cars for 4 months.

So be glad that this process is not easy. You will learn more and appreciate it much more in the end. Keep smiling!