From here to now.

William Michael Forbes




Here is often anywhere but here...it usually refers to some other time and space that one remembers or hopes will be. wmf

A Well Known Fact: Now engages the truth, when it is truly engaged, for what is now has no interpretation only the knowing of what is...therefore now cannot be described to be known...it can only be experienced as it is.

Most of the time in my adult life was what I call re-experienced time; time remembered as something and thought to be experienced as if it were now. In other words my now’s have often been coloured by what I remember about life and what I would like my life to be like...which are merely coats of paint over the truth of now. Almost everyone live frequently in this not now...and yet all of us also have real now`s that we experience. Laughter for example is a now experience, that may have been stimulated by a past thought or future consideration, yet the feeling of the laughter is a NOW state that is both future and past free as it is experienced. A physical orgasm is a NOW experienced as NOW with no past or future attached to it and so too is the act of sneezing, as is a moment of being startled and even an intense sudden itchiness. These experiences and many others can take us into NOW and out of the past and future.

Being in the now has been viewed as profound mystical moment, a communion with the divine. Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God as being `Here NOW`, Buddhism refers to now as the eternal present. As well there are sciences like Gestalt, books like Ekhart Tolles `The power of NOW` and statements like `seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all else will be added unto you.` that seem to support that there is great value in now, in that Now seems to figure prominently in the realm of ultimate happiness and should be considered as an important tool in the discovery of, How to be happy in fifteen minutes or less.

How can you, if you haven`t been trained in a Buddhist temple, have no itchiness, no sneezing and aren`t having an orgasm, get into a state of now? Today’s activity on how to be happy in fifteen minutes or less is an exercise in returning to the now. As children we all had to be taught about time. We had no thoughts of tomorrow or even yesterday...we had memory in terms of previous experiences, but these only became influential in our behaviour after repeated exposure to specific and related events and activities. As we grew and learned about time, we formed ideas about the future and could review our past...and what then became of now? Where is your NOW? What would happen to you if you stopped thinking of the future and ceased dwelling upon the past? And these questions bring us to the activity on How to be happy in fifteen minutes or less.

This is a simple and fun activity and will be a snap to do. Wherever you are at this moment and for at least one minute every half hour...I want you to do one of the following actions. First take a deep breath and relax your body...then take not of what is going on in your mind...what is your mind doing? Wondering about what is next? Remembering what you did this morning or what happened at another time? Is your mind concerned you won’t have time to do this or anxious about something? Whatever it is your mind is doing at this moment, I want you to do either one of the following actions either snap you fingers or clap your hands and pay full attention to what happens to your thoughts in the moment you snap or clap. Where did your thoughts go when you snapped or clapped? And what do you experience in yourself at the moment of the snap or clap?

Our minds can only analyze one thing thought or act at a time and at the moment the snap or clap occurs the sound can be heard but not analyzed as analysis requires that you remember. Listen intently to the sound of the snap or clap as it occurs...what do you feel as it occurs? It is the feeling at the moment the snap or the clap occurs that I want you to experience as fully as you can...not the sound...the feeling. If at any time during the day you find your thoughts and emotions get a little busy...try snapping your fingers or clapping your hands and notice what happens to the thoughts and emotions at the moment you do either of those and...

Have a great day!

William Michael Forbes

Copyright © 2010 by William Michael Forbes. All rights reserved.