The ancient philosophies of the East advise us to live in the present moment in order to live better and overcome our fear of tomorrow. They suggest by living in the present moment we can put aside the anxiety and the stress of an uncertain tomorrow. It is possible they say to train our mind to be in the here and now and all our problems will eventually fade.
But what does living in the present moment really mean? Can we at all not be living in the present?! and does it really matter or is it all just another pretty idea?
The whole idea is about being aware of your thoughts, emotion and your surrounding without being judgmental. Being somehow in a meditative state of mind. Not to think about tomorrow and not to worry. Don’t plan the future and allow it to unfold naturally. Do not allow your wandering mind to distract you. It wants us to forget the past and ignore the future.
Ok! that all sounds very interesting. And if by living in the present moment, one can overcome anxiety and stress, why not? But put the idea to test and you will soon realise that no matter how hard you try you can never live in the past or future moment, nor you can do anything about a wandering mind. In other words, it’s all a pile of mumbo jumbo.
So, how to live in the present moment?
Well, it’s like doing meditation all day, every day. Basically, you seat in a quiet corner and monitor your thoughts, emotion and surrounding without judging them. Let it all be.
As you can see, few moments on and you have already created a million different problems for yourself. Who is going to work? Who will take care of the kids, cook, clean and sort our daily businesses? So then, it didn’t take us long to understand by not planning your future or your daily tasks we are not going to get far. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against meditation. Every here and then, meditating for few minutes is very refreshing and helpful. But let us dig a bit deeper and see what’s behind this idea. Let’s not disregarded it so quickly and explore a bit further.
Why do we need to live in the present moment and what is the idea behind the idea?
According to Eastern philosophy, human suffering arises because of our desires and our wandering mind. Therefore, by living in the present moment, one may be able to overcome this problem. The issue here is that somehow, we got lost in the translation.
Buddha’s teaching wants us to understand that as human beings we are not separate from the rest of nature. We are part of this universe and one with the whole existence. We don’t come in to this life but come out of it. We are the outcome of an immensely complex system. Similar to an apple being the product of an apple tree. Thus, living in the present moment basically means don’t worry, it is all being taken care of and accounted for through our subconscious. The same way our bodies, the planet we live on, the nature and everything else in this universe come to exist without us being consciously in control of the whole system.
So, we don’t really need to be meditating all day long in order to live better. All we need to do is to trust our own subconscious. This doesn’t necessarily mean that suddenly all our problems will go away. It means thoughts, emotions and difficulties are all part of our existence.
We are always living in the present moment, no matter what.
Once you get through all of the false advertising, it is clear that we are always living in the present moment no matter what we do. Our thoughts and emotions are all unfolding in the present moment. When we talk about the past, we are referring to a memory which exist in the present moment. When we are planning for the future, we are doing it in the present moment although we do understand that furure is always uncertain.
So, to live in the present moment, all you need to do is to do what you are already doing. Simply live your life the same way you have always done.
