Can we live NOW?
Photo by: lomoelvis
“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” - Buddha
Many people are so concerned with adding days to their life that they forget to add life to their days. Have you ever found yourself at home thinking about what you need to do at work, or at work thinking about things happening in your personal life? You know how distracting that is.
They say the solution for that is living in the moment; not thinking about anything else but the NOW moment in time. Just like a turntable only plays that which is under its needle and doesn’t bother with what will follow.
The past is history.
The future is a mystery.
The only time we really have is now - just this moment.
All this living in the moment talk can sound really nice, but can we really do it or is it just a rather untouchable ideal that many teachers throw our way?
In my opinion, living in the moment is quite impossible. I’ll tell you why.
Existence
Living in the moment is inevitably tied to our existence. To our being. But there is no universally accepted theory as to what the word “existence” means.
Martin Heidegger (September 26, 1889 – May 26, 1976), an influential German philosopher, writes in his work “Being and Time,” that time and existence are inexplicably linked. Our being, he says, is really a process of becoming.
Our existence is nothing but this stretching where we are constantly projecting ourselves into a future, always expecting things, always hoping things. We’re constantly pulled ahead of ourselves into purposes that we’re trying to fulfill, into tasks that we’re working on, into things that we want to achieve.
Think of a bus driver driving his bus. This is someone who has a future task that he’s trying to fulfill and he has a logic operating there that shows that the human being is actually extended ahead of himself.
The ahead is where we really live, what we anticipate or desire to do, what we want our lives to become is ahead of us.
The bus driver drives the bus for a future event in which he gets paid and takes his family on a vacation.
You too, while reading this, are projecting yourself into the future. Because you’re reading this with a purpose that lies ahead of you. You’re reading this trying to understand something that you think might help you in the future.
Friction
Trying to fully live in the now moment is kind of like trying to completely eliminate friction from this world.
It is, first of all, probably impossible. And second, everything would just come to a grinding halt - if you don’t have friction, you don’t have movement.
In the same manner, if you’re eliminating the thoughts of the future from your mind and focus only on what’s now, you’ll cease existing. In probably all the senses possible.
Think about this: you drink water so you don’t become dehydrated - and avoid health issues or death. The thing is that the health issues and the potential death will occur in the future. You won’t die now.
So, if you would live exclusively in the moment and not think about the future, you wouldn’t drink that water now, because the negative effects are in the future. You would want to drink the water only in the moment in which you’re sick or dead.
OK, so we can’t live exclusively now. Do we have an alternative?
… Yes, we do.
No matter the goals, whatever your path, there are five questions to ask yourself as you strive to make the most of each moment. Of course, it is not sufficient to merely ask yourself these question, you must act on the answers you find.
- What thing that I can do now that will make this moment count five years from now? - you may vary the time period -
- What small thing can I do now that will take me closer to becoming my biggest fan?
- How can I value who I am as I strive to become who I want to be?
- If this was the last day of my life, what would I want my life to say about me?
- What can I do to make my current activity more enjoyable?
In the end, I think that the “living in the moment” thing is just a misused expression that no-one has bothered looking into.
We’re all future-living creatures, but we can learn to enjoy life on the walk there.
I wish for you all the best and I look forward to sharing more ideas that will help you reach higher.
PS: In light of the presented idea, I think it is obvious that the opening quote is rather rubbish. But it has its purpose for being there… :}
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Very nice article… thank you.
Living in the NOW doesn’t mean we don’t prepare for the future. It means you get deeper into the moment. Time slows down, you feel more alive, you concentrate more on what is at hand. As you harvest the most out of each moment, your future takes care of itself.
Please check out http://www.thenowatch.com to see more about living in the moment, if you are open to it which I sense you are given some other posts on this blog. Yes living in the NOW is challenging and takes practice, constant practice. At the site you’ll find a tool to help remind people to focus on the present moment.
There are too many successful humans, especially great athletes, who credit their ability to stay present as a key to their success to dismiss the concept completely. Question it, yes, but to call it rubbish, well not so fast.
-Adam-
@Jason: Thank you for the appreciation! I’m really glad you enjoyed reading it.
@Adam: Please note that I didn’t call it all rubbish. However, the part with “do not dream of the future” is totally rubbish.
We have more control over time (it slows down) in panic situations.
The great people who credit their success to staying present have done so for a purpose that was further ahead down their road. They had that moment down the road in the front of their minds.
The great athlete was present because he wanted to win the race - something that was further ahead of him.
Not one of us is completely living in this very moment. Some enjoy the moment more than others, but we’re doing our living in the future.
And I beg to differ about the time slowing down… I think it would rather speed up if we were to live in the moment.
Thanks for this post and what it’s making me think about. Are there any other opinions out there about whether we can live in the NOW? In this moment I have more questions than answers.
Is every present moment really future oriented? Does dreaming of the future have a positive or negative effect on the material manifestation of that dream? Does living in the NOW make time feel faster or slower, or perhaps obsolete? What do great athletes mean when they speak of focus and presence of mind as key to their success? Is feeling as if we are living in the NOW a reward in and of itself or just a tactic to help achieve future success?
All I know is I like to increase the number of moments when I feel I am in the NOW. That’s why I created The Now Watch… to remind me to live in the moment.
No problem, Adam, that’s the reason why I created this page.
More opinions from more people will certainly appear in time - already projecting that. :}
Now to try to briefly answer your questions:
1. Is every present moment really future oriented? At the moment I can’t tell for sure if *every* moment is future oriented, but I can tell that *most* of them are. Think about us talking here in the comments… if I was to live exclusively NOW, I wouldn’t consider you answering - you’re doing it in the future. The implication of that: I wouldn’t be writing this in the first place.
2. Does dreaming of the future have a positive or negative effect on the material manifestation of that dream? If by dreaming you were referring to the consideration of a possibility in the future, then it’s mostly having positive effects. Why just mostly? Because not all dreams are created equal. Depends on the way you dream.
3. Does living in the NOW make time feel faster or slower, or perhaps obsolete? I know for sure, and science experiments have proven it, that panic situations dilute our perception of time. We feel that time expands. The reason: our body enters a protection mode in which more blood and energy are almost instantly directed to the parts of the brain that deal with reflexes and such - while decreasing the energy and blood in other organs and parts of the brain that are useless for danger situations. If we could constantly enjoy the most and focus on what we do in the present moment, and if that isn’t a situation that calls for the activation of protective systems, time should flow normally. However, intense pleasure situations make time seem to flow faster.
4. What do great athletes mean when they speak of focus and presence of mind as key to their success? Maybe they’re misjudging the perception… we’re doing that more often that we dare to even think. Maybe their projection of them winning is what gives them the extra energy and focus. Without the winning chance that’s ahead each of them, who would compete? Tell me that you’re gonna give me $1mil tomorrow night if I write a short novel by then and you’re going to get me writing ASAP. If I were to concentrate exclusively on writing it… I would write only a few pages. But if I were to constantly think about the reward tomorrow… I’m buzzing ’till the last moment. Hope this makes some sense. :}
5. Is feeling as if we are living in the NOW a reward in and of itself or just a tactic to help achieve future success? This one I don’t know yet. It could be both, or it could be one at a time, depending on the situation.
Trying to answer your questions got me to consider this: maybe there are situations in which we’re living NOW. Those are the extremely dangerous situations in which every resource of our body is invested into its protection, thus taking resources away from everything else that is irrelevant to the situation - thinking about retirement, debt, what you’ll do tomorrow, etc. BUT, this sort of living in the now can be lethal - the shutting off of the irrelevant elements can be so dramatic and sudden that it can potentially lead to shutting off the whole system, thus killing the individual.
However, this too is anchored in the future, as trying to survive serves a purpose that is further down the road.
It’s really late here and I’m rather tired, so I hope that these ideas make some sense.
Thanks for all those interesting thoughts Titus-Armand.
As I read, I was thinking something similar… perhaps the panic responses to the dangerous situations you described are examples of humans being compelled or even forced to live in the present moment. But what if instead we consciously choose to more fully experience each moment we are alive? Perhaps that way we’d start to have a better understanding whether we really can live in the NOW…
I hope your projection stating that more people will comment materializes.
Hi Titus-Armand,
Great stuff. A very nice dissection of the NOW, I’m always happy to hear that this timeless (pun not intended) principle is slowly spreading across the world. What a difference it would make!
Cheers,
Albert | UrbanMonk.Net
Modern personal development, entwined with ancient spirituality.
@Adam: “But what if instead we consciously choose to more fully experience each moment we are alive? Perhaps that way we’d start to have a better understanding whether we really can live in the NOW” - That is something that we can’t do. We can only go so far as to realize and become aware that we’re present only in the now moment; but we’ll constantly *be* in the future - as our existence is not static (NOW), but a stretch (now & future + now + future). To constantly focus all our energy on the moment would take two situations:
1. Constant extreme danger - either created by our mind or real.
2. Constant extreme pleasure - either created by our mind or real.
… Rather unlikely to happen.
Plus, when we do live in the moment (in the above situations), some parts of the brain are used less - it’s harder to think, to memorize, or to have quick reactions, etc. Living in the now throws important things out of balance.
Plus, as I’ve said before, even the situations in which we live NOW are anchored in the future. I want to survive today so that I can do “x” in the future.
The simplest explanation is this: our perception of living NOW is in fact living in the FUTURE.
We’ve been blinded by the simplicity of the word “now” and we didn’t see it’s real meaning in this context. “Living now” means that YOU LIVE, NOW, - as in “I didn’t live yesterday, but now I do” - which, in turn, means that now you’re working harder towards the future than you were doing yesterday.
@Albert: It would really make a big difference, but I think it takes more than a single “revolution” to achieve that. Oh, and it takes a lot of people with prepared minds… which are rather lacking these days - no pun intended for anyone.
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hello armand i dont no u but u have a very good understanding of living in the NOW it’s really making me think about Now and the future it’s all very psitive if u hav any other positive stuff on life could u plz reply me a message…..tc..byeexxxx
i’m a gal bye da way beef is juz a nick name (my family call me dat) my really name is anefa i no its weird but i hav to say u r a very gud person:D
Hi Anefa,
First off all, thank you for your kind words.
Second, don’t say that your name is strange, because if we think about it, all names are strange; it’s our familiarity with them that makes them “normal.”
I’m glad that I managed to really make you think about time with this article. If you want to read more of my ideas on life, you can check out the rest of the blog articles.