When the Time is Right

March 31, 2024

When living in the now, time stands still, and our senses are more acute. There are fewer mental distractions because we are not confined to our minds and the story of our ego. Instead, in the now, our minds are not planning for the next few minutes or hours; we focus on what is happening right this second. This gives us the space to be aware. The state of being aware in the now is called mindfulness. But this condition is more than MINDfulness; it is HEARTfulness and BODYfulness. Without all three of these “nesses,” we are not fully present.

Living in the now is one of the best treatments for depression and anxiety. In depression, our minds run rampant in negative thinking. We say discouraging things to ourselves, such as, “I am worthless,” “there is no hope,” or “I have lost my will to go on,” and “nobody truly cares.” These thoughts pull us deeper into our mind’s negativity. We are in quicksand and can see nothing but the sand.

Being in the now pulls us out of a mentality fixated on negativity. We now concentrate on our immediate environment instead of our negative thoughts. Focusing on a flower or a piece of architecture or noticing a child at play takes us from an internal orientation to an external one. Once we concentrate on what we see, hear, feel, smell, and touch on the outside, we automatically flip out of our fixation on ourselves and our negative thinking. Simply noticing the things in our outer world helps us understand that we are part of every living thing in nature. The awareness that we are part of a greater world, draws us out of our egocentricity and its negative thinking.

Inquiry: What would prevent you from concentrating on and sensing your outer experiences?

Dear God,

I lift up my eyes unto the hills.

Amen.

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