photo from Pixabay
Read time: 5 minutes
**March 2025 Edit: I’ve been wondering now whether I should keep this post up as I no longer fully resonate with the writings here. As I’ve gone deeper into Vipassana meditation, I realize that being in the “Now” will only give partial benefits in attaining real sustained peace. Don’t get me wrong though, being in the Now gives amazing benefits, but I found that it doesn’t help to change the automatic, childhood conditioning and habitual habit patterns ingrained in us over years – the root of our problems. Not giving this information about the possibility of coming out of all anger, boredom, fear, hatred and ego feels to me like I won the lottery and kept it all to myself. The Power of Now is part of the vipassana teachings, but vipassana will take you one step further. Also, lol…I never finished the Power of Now because I found Vipassana Meditation to be more effective. Either way, I’ve left up this post in case others aren’t ready to try vipassana as the Power of Now still holds many benefits.
Here’s a blog post where I talk about my former mental health struggles: Blog Post #10: My Mental Health Past
Original Post:
TLDR:
- Being in the Now can create an incredible feeling of aliveness and presence in each moment
- Stepping out into Now requires mindfulness and observing ones thoughts to step out of ones’ head
- One can learn how to be in the Now by reading Eckhart Tolle’s book: The Power of Now
*Note: I’ve provided links to the Power of Now on Amazon. As an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn from qualifying purchases; however, anything I will ever link is only what I truly believe is worthwhile. There’s no extra cost to you and it helps me keep travelling/writing about my adventures. ^^
Preamble:
Dear Readers,
I’ve been continuing to read “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle and it’s made an incredible difference in my life. It’s helped me realize that there is only Now, the present moment, regardless of what’s happening inside my head – the memories of the past or the thoughts about the future. Such knowledge has helped me be more present and feel an amazing sense of calm and aliveness that is hard to describe. Hopefully, I can allude to it slightly with this post below. It’s part of the rare moments in my life (hopefully to be more often) where life just feels perfect. I wrote it while in a park in Taiwan. Writings while in that state will be italicized for easier reading:
Power of Now – Writings in a Park:
After reading bits of the Power of Now, I’m now able to step more into the present moment. It feels so calm, like a soft duvet but in my heart. I can feel the energy of the soft grass as it vibrates in the wind or the presence of the tree which provides me shade. The colours are so vibrant and everything just feels so alive.
This is the state that I crave for when I’m stressed and overwhelmed in my head. The funny thing is that it’s always present. Just masked by layers of thoughts.
How to get here? Well simply put, it’s to be an observer of the thoughts. Once we can accept and observe, we are present and the feeling of Being arises. This energy of presence.
The Concept of Psychological vs. Clock Time:
One concept described in Tolle’s book which helps me snap back to the Now is knowing about psychological time. Previously I thought that, to be present, I needed to no longer think of the past and future, but that is not the case. One needs clock time to plan, make goals, learn from our mistakes etc; however we do not need psychological time. Psychological time is the time that we obsesses with in our brains – that craves for a better future than the present, the time that spirals with a mistake of the past. Clock time focuses on what we have Now. What we are doing Now. The planning, the reflections. Psychological time is the “oh I shouldn’t have done that…that was so embarrassing…this is so uncomfortableetc.” There’s no distance and the brain feels as though each moment recurs again and again.
It’s interesting because psychological time is just an illusion. The memories that we have of the past or the ideas of the future are actually just collections of ideas that are happening in the present. Everything is always happening in the present, yet we often miss the now as we are rolling in psychological time.
How to Step Out of Psychological Time:
To enter the Now, we have to stop thinking and observe. How to stop thinking? It’s actually quite simple in theory. Just noticing what’s going on in the mind is enough to stop the thinking and bring oneself back into the present. It takes a lot of practice though. Even with my taking time away from work and meditating twice a day, being in the Now is something I constantly need to be mindful of and strive toward.
Is it Worth the Effort?
Absolutely. I think it’s where the true essence of life lies. So much of life is spent in our heads (psychological time) planning work, thinking about todos, remembering an embarrassing event. Before we know it, we’re older and don’t remember how we got here.
…There is no past or future, only Now.
~Tracy
World of Wandering Minds 