If The Future Scares You, The Present Moment Can Heal You

[Guest guest]

If The Future Scares You, The Present Moment Can Heal You

By Tama J. Kieves

Money has been on people's minds these days. The media volleys the

word " recession " around. It's like a toddler learning to say

a first word and saying it again and again. Personally, I don't

believe that staying obsessed about a future fear, is staying

" informed. " Actually, I'd call it mental poisoning. You

often create what you focus most upon. But even more importantly, fear

distracts us from our present moment and the present moment is where our

only abundance resides.

Recently, walking with my friend Ann, we decided to focus on the grace

of current conditions. Strolling back from a local coffee house, we

appreciated the genteel temperature of a metro Denver summer early

evening, the drunken perfume of Catalpa trees, the orange of the

yearning tiger lilies. I reveled in the rambunctious love of every dog,

straining on leash, to meet me. Ann, a non-dog-lover, allowed me my

impulsive love affairs. We appreciated decaf coffee, a purple door on

someone's home, and the power of the everyday life stories we

shared. I started to feel giddy and alive as we had our own Eckhart

Tolle- Ram Dass- Be Here Now-kind of moment. We had switched from

discussing " the future, " our plans and hopes, to being where we

were. The future, an unknown that the media often portrays as a

formidable mountain lion, gazed at us with yellow eyes… until we

backed up into the present where we were safe, and rich beyond compare.

I believe in a purpose to things. I like purpose. I don't like

thinking that God just got bored or had a little ADD moment of creating

other universes and forgot what she was doing in this one. (I'd hate

to think she's journaling, " darn, I meant to do something about

that ozone hole. Woops, senior moment! " ) So here's my take on

current challenges. The changes in our world do not allow us the

" comfort " of walking through our days on auto-pilot, on the way

to someplace good, in the future. We've all just enrolled in

" Joy 101, " some graduate course on how to savor the juice of our

current experience and transform our entire lives. It's like sitting

in a large Zen meditation hall where the beloved teacher carries a huge

stick and whacks you on the back when you slouch with distraction. The

pain brings you back to paying attention. Paying true attention, not

judging, resisting, or fantasizing, leads us straight into the pearly

experience called our present lives. Here we realize we are ridiculously

blessed.

Eckhart Tolle, explains in his bestselling book The Power of Now:

" The moment your attention turns to the Now, you feel a presence, a

stillness, a peace. You no longer depend on the future for fulfillment

and satisfaction—you don't look to it for salvation….You

have found the life underneath your life situation. " The wisdom

tradition of A Course in Miracles, echoes this same philosophy. It

teaches that you can never have a miracle in the future. There is

nothing in the future that you want or that you don't want. If you

knew your true power and felt your connection to Spirit's unending,

unlimited love-- all craving and anxiety would disappear.

So you might ask, but what about serious problems? I remember once

reading about a 26-year-old Buddhist girl. She had been diagnosed with a

terminal illness. Everyone cried out in horror at the injustice of it,

all the life she would miss. The young woman, however, wrote about how

she had learned to focus on each moment of her life without reflecting

on her past or her future. She said she had reached a state of freedom

and rapture that transcended every joy she had known before. She wrote

about all the life she would have missed, had this challenge not come

her way.

We live in stirring times. I believe our Information Age will provoke

many of us to seek out other information, sweet, soft, loving

information that comes from listening to the Beloved, the Prince of

Peace, the essence of Beingness, our own True Voice. There is a place

within you where you can experience no lack, no pain, and no resistance

to your present life. Of course, once you enter this kind of present

moment, you also have pure access to your wildest creativity, healing

potential, and highest intelligence. From this abundance, you will

create another future. " My father's mansion has many rooms, "

says the Bible. Our minds have so many dimensions and capacities.

Our minds are great story makers. They are forever telling the tales of

our future and of our past. But you can rest in this moment and change

everything you've ever known. Find a small joy in this moment. Focus

on anything that you love, and you will not know pain. You are swimming

in wealth and goodness, practically drowning. But your focus is on

" what might happen. " Suspend that focus and find out what is

happening right now. You'll be glad you did.

Copyright Tama J. Kieves, All rights reserved.

Author's Bio

Tama J. Kieves is the best-selling author of THIS TIME I DANCE! Creating

the Work You Love/How One Harvard Lawyer Left It All to Have It All! She

is also a sought-after speaker and career coach who has helped thousands

world-wide to discover and live their creative dreams. Learn more about

Tama's workshops and coaching or sign up to receive FREE monthly

inspiration and tools for your creative life journey at

www.AwakeningArtistry.com. Download her free report on " Finding Your

Calling Now " at www.AwakeningArtistry.com

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Moment_Can_Heal_You.html

http://livingonlove.ning.com