To live as full as life as possible, we have to practice living in the present moment. Try to develop consciousness and the ability to observe your thoughts and your life without criticism and judgment. Then, you can look at others and the world with more compassion.
Making Conscious Choices by Living in the Present Moment
If I was going to ask, “How are you?”, you would say, “Fine, or okay, or good, or great” You wouldn’t really answer the question, or you’d answer it superficially if you are like the majority of people.
If I ask, “What’s going on for you right now? What’s happening in your mind? What’s happening in your heart? What’s your predominant energy right now? What are you thinking about a lot of the time?” Most people would have an answer to that if they really considered what they were thinking about.
I do that quite a bit. As long as I don’t overdo it, I actually find it quite helpful to keep myself in check.
One of the key elements that we teach, and that a lot of people teach, is the element of consciousness. Consciousness is about acting from the present moment instead of based on programming from the past. It’s about making conscious choices in this moment and not being habitual or automatic like we normally are.
How to Make Conscious Decisions in the Moment
If you notice, the key element that many monks have taken 40 years in caves to consider is the element of observation. It’s observing yourself, being your own witness.
It means thinking about what you’re thinking about. It means taking a bird’s eye view of your life, your situation, and where you’re at.
It’s your way of thinking, feeling, and acting and being conscious enough to observe that. Not in a judgmental way as in, “Oh my god! What an idiot I am!”, or, “How great am I?” It’s not like that. It’s just watching how you do your life.
My Zen teacher is Cheri Huber. I love Cheri! She’s so great because she makes things really simple. It’s like being aware of what’s going on in your life and coming from a place of, “Here’s how I’m thinking, what I’m thinking, and what I’m feeling,” and then working backward to say, “Is that what I want to be doing?”
Reasons to Leave Behind Personal Judgment and Criticism
If you can do this without judgment, you’re going to be in great shape. What Cheri says is the problem most people have is that they are conscious and living in the present moment, but they do it with judgment.
Considering that most of us grow up in a culture that emphasizes superficial things, it’s no wonder most people have a part in them that’s near neurotically self-critical. When people feel like they don’t compare to others who are successful, they judge themselves.
And that’s not including those circumstances from our childhood and life traumas that pile on feelings of lower self-worth.
It’s tough for a lot of people to look critically at their lives and accept, without judgment, that whatever happened before to make us who we are now, we do have a now to work with! But sometimes there are places within themselves people just don’t want to go.
The issue is that when we do look at ourselves, it’s like turning the lights on in a dark room.
Benefits to Practicing Consciousness Without Judgment
Let me ask you a simple question: When you turn the light on, do you see more or less dirt? You’re going to see more of everything, aren’t you?
Our mind is generally focused on what’s wrong because it’s always looking to protect us. It’s not going to protect us by looking for what’s right.
The trick here is observation without judgment and criticism. Leave right or wrong out of the equation.
1. You will be able to be very conscious about what’s going on and then make changes if you need to.
2. You will be able to practice observing without judgment.
Here’s the cool thing, my friends. If you can practice observing yourself without judgment, then you can practice observing life and other people without judgment.
Life gets a lot more peaceful and more enjoyable regardless of your situation. You get more inner balance to sustain through success or setback. You become more resilient. People like that energy and want to be around it. That’s Zen, baby.
So tell us … what’s been on your mind? We’re not here to fix or to provide remedy. Tell us what you’re really thinking and feeling these days, and observe how much of yourself you might see in others’ responses.
For Your Freedom,
UP NEXT: Road to Financial Freedom: Common Financial Misconceptions Keeping You Broke
THANK YOU VERY MUCH SIR.
Very powerful words..I Feel peaceful..thank you
Hi Harv! 🙂 That is very inspiring and helpful. Thank you! I wrote about this exact same thing in a short ebook. A friend is helping me fix the formatting issues and I made it simpler. but what is available now is very helpful. I got was plunged into the present moment for several weeks after an awful accident and the “voice in the head” was cut off as was the self critic, fear, worry, anxiety etc that all comes with the ego. It was an amazing feeling of joy, deep calm, and I had a feeling of benevolence towards everything. Things looked beautiful bright and vibrant. I lost the amazing state after several weeks and my brain started working “normally” again and feeling of lack, scarcity, worry all came back. I remembered the wonderful feeling of being in the present moment and tried to access it again over years. Read all of Eckart Tolles books, had a daily meditation practice. I found it was hard to stay in the present moment. Then as I wrote the ebook because I really wanted to share the experience, I asked for guidance in writing it is a way that would help the most and I found out about Steve Kotler who did scientific research on what happens when someone is in the Flow state. Very amazing physiological changes happen in the body.. I wrote about how it is possible to easily get into the present moment and create the strong neural pathways to do so. I am doing speeches about it. The book is “Finding Heaven on Earth and Discovering the Power of Flow. Jessica Foos Jones
Oooh, thanks for this! I love how your thinking will check out the reads! Peace & namaste.
“What’s going on for you right now? A lot of stress worrying about the future of my once very successful business. What’s happening in your mind? I know I will never through in the towel and I know I am driven enough, smart enough and strong enough to keep it going. What’s happening in your heart? My heart is sad and scared of failure. What’s your predominant energy right now? High stress and not as positive as I need and want it to be. What are you thinking about a lot of the time?” Money, making money, succeeding quietly and with confidence, addressing all the issues and finishing on each and every task at hand.
Thank you for all your words of wisdom, clarity and the hope behind each lesson. I plan to read, listen and follow them all.
Sincerely,
Sandy
I am very conscious about my life and what is happening within me, I had to turn down a job offer because the interview was so upsetting I realized it was not aligned with my dream. It is difficult to face, but I had to be aware of the importance of my life goals and being aware in the moment, and not feeling pressured to give in and take the position, or feel pressured. I know I would have resented it in the long run.
Whoa, can you say…ommmm. Loved this and is soooo true! Spending the first part of my life striving for perfection, what an internal chaos that tormented me. To be where I am today is priceless! Perfectly imperfect and I love me! I love that even though I m surrounded by people who arent where I am in life I can get on here and really connect. Ahhhhh,like minded people coming together to create a beautiful world. I continue to be a work in progress and I am grateful. Cheers guys ….heres to more of everything great coming our way!! Peace out! (pssst., thank you for all the teaching,much gratitude)
Its though but i’m getting there, so thank you very much!
Being in the present is what I teach my clients, this way one will learn more about themselves, and how to overcome obstacles and actually change their lives for the better. I find that when I am in the present and mindful of my thoughts they often go to judgement of my thoughts. I need to change the awareness to insert the good as soon as I observe a thought that isn’t in alignment of my dream for my life, present and future.