Is It Possible To Live In The Moment?

Absolutely! Though it is not easy. Trying to be at peace with ourselves is what we can try possibly! Nothing is in our control, except our own thought processes!

 

That was an interesting post Pushpavallisrinivasan garu!

I am a great fan of this concept!

After reading Thich Nhat Hanh books (I read one or two...and have to read then 'n' number of times for the concept to sink into my adamant mind which refuses to take the happy way and prefers to get sucked in emotional blah blah all the time) I have evolved a pattern for myself.

1) Whenever possible I try to be aware of my breath and thank the innate intelligence in me that takes the breath without my asking! Just watch the air go in and come out, say two to three times at a time. I watch it every now and then. It does not stop me from my work, nor is it time consuming, and I feel grounded. When I am filling up the water bottles, when I am making Dosas(work goes on automatically, and I can focus on my breath, without hindering any activity)
2) I try to walk slowly now and then (at least few steps) thank mother earth before I place my foot, I feel the floor, the coolness of it and try to be aware of the sensation that is carried from my foot to the brain, thank mother earth for its kindness. I think that I am leaving peace lotus to it and all those who walk that way when I lift my step. Just two or three steps..and let go of it. Back to my work. It takes very little time but it helps me to be grounded. Inspiration was "Walking Meditation" that I found on the net. Just few moments of being present consciously and without hindering the routine.

I also try to be aware of the sip of water, tea and coffee, the first morsel of food that I put into my mouth. Trying to understand myself in bits and pieces

Right now I am enjoying doing these two steps and it helps me to slow down and relish the moment! Whenever possible,whenever my mind becomes aware of it I do it. So, many moments in a day can be harvested this way-what do you say?

 

Dear PS maam, I too feel it is just not possible to completely live in the moment, irrespective of all advices in this regard. Whenever we are younger and fully occupied with our routines of office, managing children, the home front etc, maybe there would have not been much time to dwell on the past or think too much of the future. Even so, planning for children's education, settling them down etc definitely needs to be planned.
It is when we have settled our children and leading a retired life and free from any major responsibilities(this is also a matter of perception only) our mind tends to wander into the past as well as the future! Here, Jayasala maams solution is really the best to follow: 'hoping for the best ,simultaneously preparing for the worst'.
A nice snippet , truly introspective.

 

Certainly possible. What else can happen? Thinking about the future and past does not mean that we are not living in the moment. We are alive .. even to think that. Let's thank for that. So this moment is precious so lets not waste. Its easy to say than to really practice. But the gen next is trained for that I believe. Let us also learn from them and catch up.

Namaskaram.

 

Dear PS,

Interesting subject, especially in view of a book called Time Travel that I have been stuck to. The author is James Gleick. It's all about past and future, from a scientific point of view. An important scientific fact discussed in the book concerns the speed of light. The point is that light takes time to travel, however fast the speed may be. As a result, when you see your friend, you see the light reflected by her person. And since light takes time to travel, you are actually seeing her as she was in the past, an infinitesimally small fraction of time in the past. In this sense, what we consider to be the present moment of our existence is actually a glimpse of the past. The sunlit morning that we enjoy is really the sunlit morning of a little while ago! I am quite impressed by this and this was Einstein surely. In a way, time travel (into the past) is not only possible, it is an actuality. We have no choice. I know that the observation has nothing to do with your snippet. But the book is enjoyable and I couldn't help pointing it out.

You can see that I am using the present continuous form, but it seems to me that present continuous is actually past perfect as far as Physics goes.

Regards.

oj

 

There are scientific studies that tell that a human being generally spends 85% of time thinking of past, 10% of time thinking of future, but only 5% of time thinking of present. Once we are aware, we can increase our attention to present to do better justice.