Day 2
Meditation #4: The Power of Now
Welcome to Day 2 of the 7 Day Challenge
Make sure to read everything below before starting your meditation. Enjoy!
Barriers To Abundance
The single greatest barrier to experiencing an abundance of peace, love, and joy in our lives is us. As previously discussed, most of us are caught in a never-ending vicious cycle of thinking that happens at a subconscious level and for many remains undetected. As we have discovered through advancements in neurological brain mapping and numerous studies regarding how thought affects human behavior, we know that the overwhelming majority of thoughts that go through the average human’s mind are negative and downright destructive.
The National Science Foundation released an article in 2005 showing that the average person has 12,000-60,000 thoughts per day. Of those thoughts, 80% are negative and 95% are exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before. If you have never heard these statistics, take a moment for them to sink in.
Depression
Depression, although it can have many contributing factors, is often a result of being stuck in the past, constantly projecting past failures which creates feelings of guilt, shame, etc. Studies have shown that over 75% of people report frequent feelings of unhappiness and unease.
Anxiety
Although anxiety can be caused by other factors, it is often caused by a fear that some future event is not going to work out as we hoped. Perhaps we have a ton on our plate and we fear that we will not be able to accomplish it all. Maybe we are in a social situation and our minds are racing in the background with every possible negative outcome that could happen. Or maybe we have an idea of who we will become in the future or who we are “supposed” to be and since we are not currently living the way we project we should be, an anxiety gap is created. Regardless of the cause, the anxiety we are experiencing is a false perception of the future that we are experiencing in the present moment. I.e. we are experiencing a negative emotion right now based on a made up mental projection of something going wrong in the future.
The Now
The only time we can ever experience anything is in the present moment. Thinking of past regrets can only be experienced in the present moment. Hopes or fears of the future can only be experienced right now. Although taking lessons from the past can be great opportunities for learning and becoming better, being stuck in the past only causes harm to us. Looking forward to things that we are planning for in the future is great, but if we are waiting for the future to experience freedom, we are fooling ourselves as the only way we can experience freedom is right now, in this moment. If we can’t learn to enjoy the present moment now, we will suffer from the same problems we are currently experiencing when we get to the future event where we were waiting for salvation.
Note: There is a great book called “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, which I would highly recommend reading. His explanation on this topic is far more in depth than what we will be discussing, and the book is one of the most transformational books I have ever come across.
Preparing For The Meditation
Before jumping into this meditation, take a few minutes to test what you have just read and determine whether you agree. If you still believe that you will experience freedom in the future once you have _______________ or achieve __________________, you will end up in a constant cycle of searching for fulfillment and it will never come. Freedom is not found in the future; the present moment is the key.
The Meditation
For this meditation, we are going to clear all of the junk from the day and practice “being” rather than “doing”. Instead of trying to accomplish more things in search of fulfillment, we are going to find it right now in this moment. We are going to stop our minds from racing back and forth, reminding us of past failures and waiting for the future to experience the freedom we seek.
At the start of this meditation, we are going to go through our normal breathing exercises clearing the mind, but we are going to continue sinking deeper and deeper into this moment. Bring a soft smile to your face, relax, and enjoy the only thing there ever actually is. The present moment.
What has helped me is reminding myself that I don’t always have to be accomplishing things to be successful. Also, remembering milestones that I have reached over my life and almost immediately after the initial and short lived high wore off, I was back chasing another dream in search of fulfillment.
Taking the time to enjoy this moment, which is all we ever have, is more beneficial to our personal and spiritual growth than just about anything else we could be doing. Also, taking this time for ourselves to experience the abundance we were created to experience is a gift we all deserve to give to ourselves.
Another thing to note is that God doesn’t speak to us in the future or the past. He speaks right now in this present moment. If our minds are elsewhere, it shouldn’t remain a mystery as to why we can’t hear God’s guiding voice.
The primary focus of this exercise is to go deep into the timeless space where God exists and allow room for him to speak to us.
Scriptures
Matthew 6:31-34 – Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Philippians 4:6 – Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
2 Corinthians 6:2 – For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
Tips/Reminders
- Our emotions are a direct result of what we are thinking about
- Although you may not consciously realize what you are thinking about, at a subconscious level your mind is always moving
- We must be willing to release the negative emotions we are holding onto for any transformation to take place
- Long deep breathes are a great way to begin releasing negative emotions
- You can’t control your emotions but you can control your thoughts
- Bring a soft smile to your face throughout this entire meditation. Trust me!