Benefits Of Living In The Present

Most of us experience a continuous chatter in our minds; countless thoughts about the future, the past, or judgements about what is seem to flow through our minds as if in a neverending stream.

This continuous chatter has many implications. The main one is that we are continuously distracted from what's actually going on in the present moment; in other words, we experience life through our thoughts rather than directly.

There are many benefits to living in the now - so many of them that as soon as you start living in the moment you will want to keep on returning to it more and more.

Benefits of living in the present

Welcome to the now! A whole lot of gifts awaits you...

• Improved concentration. As you become able to focus on the present moment for longer periods of time, you find less distractions and you experience improved focus and concentration.

• Improved effectiveness. One of the gifts of living in the present moment is that you become much more effective; you find yourself getting more things done in less time, effortlessly.

• Increased relaxation. When you set your mind to focus on the present there is no room left for thoughts of worry about the future or regret about the past. In this way, you find yourself relaxing into whatever it is you are doing.

• Direct-felt experience of reality. As you focus on the now, the stories in your head about what's going on tend to fall away, and you start experiencing reality directly, without labels. You then stop thinking that something is "good" or "bad", and start simply feeling.

• Outmoded beliefs fall away. As you stop labeling what's going on, beliefs that no longer serve you will come to the surface so that you can recognize them, and then they will fall away little by little.

Besides, I found that there are many more benefits of living in the present which are particular for every person. In a way, living in the present allows you to become a larger version of yourself.

Further down the rabbit hole...

When I started using ways to come back to the present moment, I found I really liked experiencing life in this way. It feels safe and extremely pleasant.

However, being a bit clingy on to my newly found way, I said to myself, "Fine, so I'm alright just here just now, but will I be able to continue living in the moment - in an hour from now, this afternoon, tomorrow?" In other words, I was worried that I would not be living in the now in the future.

To this I found that there is no need to worry about if we're able to live in the present moment at any other time than in the present moment.

See, you can only deal with the now. And, as long as you are riding the now, you will be riding the now, every moment - for the future will also be now at some point.

A positive recommendation

If you want to experience the benefits of living in the present, you want to start using ways that allow you to focus on the present moment little by little. It's a matter of moving the attention away from your thoughts and directing it to what's actually happening here now.

A very good program to achieve being in the present moment for longer periods of time is Holosync. Holosync is a series of meditation CDs which also effect change in our beliefs and way of looking at life. One of the results it produces is being able to live in the present.

Holosync is an extremely powerful program, but the results are slow to come. If you're up for a tool that allows you to start focusing on the now now, then I'd recommend Eckhart Tolle's book "The power of now", in which you will also find techniques to focus on the present moment.

Back From "Benefits Of Living In The Present"
To "Living In The Present"