Everywhere you look, you’ll find people coaching you to be more present. It’s the catch phrase in psycho-spiritual circles. The reason for that is the mind has a propensity to travel through time. It doesn’t recognize the boundaries we place on experience. If you watch your thoughts you’ve inevitably noticed that more often than not you’re thinking about the past or the future, not “the present moment.”
Rather than make that a problem like so many seem to do, I want to suggest we get creative, utilize the mind’s tendency to be elsewhere, and develop skillfulness with it. There’s a reason the mind works the way it does. It actually has our best interests at heart.
By going back to the past, it lets us know we have unfinished business that is keeping us from being present. It’s calling us back there to retrieve the energy and parts of ourselves we left behind. The next time you find yourself “lost” in the past, ask yourself what you are looking for there. Is there something you said or did that you regret or are anxious about? Or perhaps you feel proud of yourself and are uncomfortable with the feeling.
Instead of yanking yourself out of the past and feeling guilty for being there once again, take some time to look around and explore. Become curious about what’s drawn you back there and what you can do to complete with whatever it is. Your mind won’t let go of it until you do so anyway. You’ll find yourself going back there repeatedly until you come to some peace with it. Instead of fighting yourself about this, embrace it as a gift.
Exploring the past may require a guide at times. The younger parts of yourself may need a kind of help you aren’t yet equipped to give. It depends on how much of this work you’ve done already. Following the thread of the past can take you all the way back to birth, or even the womb and conception. Here you can reclaim your life at its origin and the energy that brought you here. How exciting is that!
We go into the future with our hopes and dreams and fears. The fears are really projections from our past, so if you follow them they’ll take you backwards. That’s good. Again, you’re looking at unfinished business. Where do these fears originate? How can you transform them and free that energy to fuel your hopes and dreams?
Hopes and dreams are the play of the imagination. Have fun. Be creative. Paint a clear a picture of what you desire. Elaborate with gusto. Enjoy a multi-dimensional sensory experience of living in a future of your own creation until you’re fully saturated with it. Don’t be afraid of giving into your desire. (Or if you are, know that you’re back in the past again.)
If you play with desire by listening to your heart and following it to your deepest longings, it will take you right back to birth and the reason you came here. As you can see, no matter which way you go, forward or back, it brings you full circle. Eventually you’re thrust into the present, fully informed as to why you’re here, with more energy to live your purpose.
What do you think about this? I’d love to hear your response. Write a comment below or share on Facebook and comment there!