Live in the present. Let go of ego.

We hear it from everywhere: Live now! The present is all that matters. Stop living in the past. All these phrases mean the same thing. It tells us to get out of our head, to stop thinking too much and to stop living from our egos. I hear and read stories about people who are able to do that and live happy lives. Usually these transitions are caused by the test that life brings us. Many people have to almost die to realise that they haven’t started to live yet. They were only learning to die slowly. And most of us do exactly that...

So what is this living NOW all about? Why is it beneficial? Why don’t we live that way in the first place? Well, let’s explore how we can start living instead of dying and what can be in our way.

In the articles Levels of Consciousness 1 and 2 we explored what we focus on when we live on those levels. As we grow, we find ourselves at a dead end as soon as we reach the highest point of level 2, then we have a choice, we can either let our ego take over and keep living to get more of what we have (not necessarily material things) and stay focused on our past (what we achieved or did not) and our future (what we want to have in our lives). We might realise that this ego driven life does not serve us and we move on into the present moment, where it doesn’t matter what we did yesterday but what we will do tomorrow. The only thing that matters is the present moment.

Ego is a creation of our mind. Ego is very deceiving and it might even trick us into believing that we have let go of certain beliefs, while we haven’t really done so, that’s what makes “living now” much harder then it looks. You have to be alert and the only way to be alert is to live in the moment. You can do this by using your senses. Try and use those senses. When you are washing dishes, feel the temperature of the water, how does it feel, listen to it; when you are driving to work, turn off the radio and look where you are going, try to notice other cars, trees and buildings. You might be surprised what you discover, you might have been driving the same way for years, but you’ve never noticed a beautiful park or a local store that might interest you or a poster on the wall advertising a concert of a lecture you always wanted to attend. Thinking about what you are going to do later or what you didn’t finish yesterday will not help you. More and more you remind yourself to live in the moment the more you will live that way and start slowly letting go of ego. Some people are able to let go of it overnight but that usually happens only in extreme cases like near death experiences. For example if you find out you have a brain tumour and your doctor tells you that you have only a few months to live and they cannot operate are you still going to postpone that trip overseas that you were planning for years or will you just pack up and go? That is what living now is all about. Stop planning and start doing.

What is EGO anyway? Well it is everything you are not. Your ego is everything that labels you as YOU. Your job, your car, your wife, your achievements, your future or it can be what you don’t have and everything you did as well. Anything you associate yourself with is your ego. Ego does not exist when you are born. You express everything freely. It does not bother you as a baby if you don’t have the latest fashion clothes, you don’t have your favourite brand of nappies or  need  a $500 haircut. Your life is simple you live egoless in the present moment. One minute happy the other hungry and screaming. You see and that is exactly what we are trying to achieve. Live like babies do. One thing should be clear here and that is we are not trying to become babies, we are mature or on our way, we do not want to take backward steps, we progress by rising above it. Just so you understand it clearly, letting go of ego is not destroying it totally, suppressing it in a dark corner. It’s a process of letting go of beliefs and habits that do not serve us. Ego might sometimes be useful, but do not let it control your life. Does it really matter what other people think? Or is it important what you think they might think? Living controlled by ego is not easy, it is damn hard.

Some people confuse living now with a quiet mind – not thinking. You can be present in the moment thinking or not. Most of the time it is better to leave your thought out but not always. Mind crowded by disorganised thoughts is an example of an ego controlled one. What are these thoughts really about? Analyse them and you will know straight away where you are at. If you use your mind as it was intended, you will use it with focus and efficiency. On the other hand if you use it to worry about things it will only depress you or make you angry. See the difference. (If you need help with mind control read about Power of Gemstones Part X Mental Healing)

Being in the moment is a total presence and awareness of what is happening in a particular moment. If you are in conversation with somebody you will listen, REALLY listen, you will see into this persons heart and understand, seeing things that others missed out on. If you listen and think about your dinner at the same time, you are not really there, you are in the future eating your dinner and missing out on everything that is happening in that current moment.

I’m not saying stop planning your future, what I am saying is, to start planning with focus and then start living it now. Make the first step. Want to go sky diving over Christmas break? Start saving and organizing in March. Put $100 aside every fortnight to a special account and go and find accommodation now and book it too, that way you are living now and have something too look forward to as well. You are not going to torture yourself with maybe, you will know for sure, you are going because you actioned the idea, and living it already!

So to summarise:

What happens if you DO NOT live in the moment:

- you keep worrying about everything – what you didn’t do, what you did and what you will or won’t do tomorrow

- will experience stress, sadness and maybe even depression

- your life will be based on logic

- your life will be filled with emotions like envy and anger

What will happen if you DO live in the moment:

- you will experience inner peace

- you will be more emotionally balanced

- you will be more energized and feel more happiness thanks to doing things that you feel and want to do in the moment

How can we learn to live now?

The best teachers of how to live now are animals, plants and children. If you observe them you will start to understand what living is really about. For example, if your cat wants attention, they will come to you and let you know. They stay for hugs and leave when they are finished. They do not think about it. Have you ever seen a cat plan when he is doing to eat? Or where to play? They just do whatever they feel like. They can sit for hours on a window sill and just be, enjoy the breeze coming through the window and meditate.

Plants and trees are even better. They are not trying to impress anyone; they just grow and are there and now. They don’t know if there will be a big storm coming tomorrow breaking their branches or pulling them out of the ground. If they thought about it they might as well stop growing today and say it is not worth it...

I think the best teachers are kids. They say it the way it is. They don’t like what you do, they tell you. They laugh when they like what is going on and if the game is boring they might tell you that you are boring and move on onto something else. So what happened to us that we are afraid to live how we feel in the moment? If that job we were doing for years is boring why can’t we just say that and move on. Why do we have to think about is for years trying to get the courage to do so, finding out years later that we wasted our lives.

What can help us get there?

Apart from observing children or spending time in nature and learning, we can be a bit more proactive and use some tools. We can do focus exercises or meditate. Both of them are very useful but are total opposite of each other. You can read about them in Meditation and Focus articles.

Other great tools are gemstones. Gemstones can help you either become more present and connected with Earth or organise your mind and help your spiritual grown. You can read about them in Gemstone Energy Medicine article on this website or visit www.gemisphere.com

If you want to read some inspirational stories get yourself this book: Dying Was the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me: Stories of Healing And Wisdom Along Life's Journey by William E. Hablitzel M.D. It is highly moving book that might change your life.

Another book that will help you is The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle; this book talk about the importance of the living in the moment in great detail.

Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman is another book that I highly recommend. Based on a true life story of its author. If you prefer movies, his story was made into a movie in 2006, you can follow this link and order it online. Peaceful Warrior DVD

Even thou my mission is to provide free information that can help others grow, I believe that these articles can help only to a certain degree. I am going through everything I am writing about and hope it might benefit somebody reading it. I hope I am able to plant a seed in somebody’s mind that can grow into something beautiful. Please DO take your life into your own hands and act NOW. Do whatever it is you have to do NOW. Go and buy that book you never got, you might learn much more from these people. They are our teachers as you might be a teacher to someone else later. Read it and if you like it pass it onto your friends, you never know it might change their life for good. As you live in the moment you will open your heart and know when such opportunity arises...

All the best!