Living in the Now – Part 2 of 3 – with Mother Sha-Riah

If you are getting thoughts in the present from things that have gone on in the past (not just in your past but the past in general), perhaps you are thinking that all you want is to live a simpler life, or you want to go back to a time where there was this idea that you got up with the sun, you went to bed with the sun, and you worked in the fields, or hunted, you fed and looked after yourselves in this way, and so on (we have to laugh at that idea because if people think that was simple they’re very mistaken, but anyway), if you are thinking this right now, then that is actually in your present. Not in your/the past, but in your present.

So, we would say to you, why is it in your present? What is it that’s knocking on your present door that is from the past (we won’t worry about the future right now), from the past but actually happening in the present? So, the question is, is it the past, or is it the present? Now you could say it doesn’t really matter, and we would perhaps clap hands and say bravo, exactly does it really matter? But for some people it does matter. Some people are focusing, and spending a lot of energy on this past experience and it’s bothering the present. They think it is holding them back, stopping them from moving forward, stopping their life from actually happening, stopping them from actually existing; that’s what they think of the past when it’s coming into the present to bother them. However, we would say that these “stoppings” may be happening, but that they are happening in the present.

So, you don’t need to force focus on the present because if these things are happening, or have happened in the past, then that is the behaviour that is informing your present behaviour, it is informing those thoughts. You can see from what we are saying that this is very confusing, and you can see why we would be confused when people are saying that they want to live in the present and must focus their energies on the present and not focus on what could be, or what has been, but just be here. That’s confusing in itself, because you are trying to be in the present even though you are already in the present! You can see already there is confusion trying to be somewhere that you already are. A further confusion comes when something from the past is bothering the present and you want to push it away because it stops you from being present, but it is bothering you in the present and you are pushing it away. This is confusing because you are saying I want to live in the now, be present, and here is something in the present that you are pushing away, so the energy gets confused.

The same thing happens when you look to the future. You might say that you don’t want to focus too much on that, you have to live in the present, what will be, will be. So, the future, in the form of expectations, desires, and so forth, is bothering you in the present and you’re going to push that way, even though it’s in the present. You want to work in the present, you want to be in the present, but this thing from the future is coming to bother you, so you push it away; there is confusion all around. When there is confusion like that, how can you possibly live your life? How can you possibly move forward, or even just move on the same spot up and down? You can’t because you are so confused, do I want to be here, do I want to be there, I can’t be here because that’s here, and I can’t be there because that is there, and that needs to be here, and so on. Can you see why we would be confused that you want to live your life like this?

So, the first thing is that you live in the present, you live in the now. You cannot get away from that absolute fact because your physical body is right here with you, right now, right here. You live here, you can’t get away from that. If things from the past are coming into the present to bother you, to make you question things, or make you behave in particular ways, it is happening in the present. The same is true for the future, the energy may be coming from somewhere else but it is happening to you in the present. If you say, that I do not want that kind of energy in my life, and you try to separate these things that you do not want from the present, you are actually separating aspects of yourself. When you start to separate aspects of yourself you’re no longer whole, you are bits of yourself. How can bits of yourself function together if you want to separate them? If you want to separate them, how can they function as a whole, complete unit? It is impossible.

So you just imagine that you are in the present, and that is it. There are things coming from your past that are bothering you in your present, what do you do? Do you suppress those botherings, do you accept them, or do you work on them? Whatever you do it is going to be done in the present. We are not saying that you do nothing, that you do not focus on these things, or look at anything in your life; what we are saying is that by signifying something as past or future, you are separating it from your present which actually makes it more difficult to deal with because it is “over there” and not here, it is separated from the “now” self.

For example, let’s say that 10 years ago you had the option of two jobs, and you took the one that at the time was the best fit. Now, 10 years later you are unhappy and really feel that you should have taken the other job. Now, is this problem of the past or the present? We would suggest it is in the present, because it’s now that you are discovering that this job isn’t great, and this might not be because of that decision in the past. If you try to separate this problem by feeling that if you had taken the other job 10 years ago you wouldn’t be in your current situation, then we would say that you are separating aspects of yourself. When you made that choice you were obviously in the present, at that time, and there were things that were informing you that made you make that choice, and you were happy about it. Now you are in the current present, and you are unhappy, in the current present you don’t like that job, or you should have taken the other job, but it’s in this period right now, this present right now that you’ve discovered this.

So, our message to you is this: incorporate the past and future energies into the present. Accept that what has happened in the past is affecting right now, and the expectations of the future are affecting right now. Do not blame the past or future for your present, this is separation, and separation means confusion, agitation, anxiety, and stagnation. Incorporation of these aspects of the self (past, future and present), means that you are a complete unit, and it is only by working on, and with, the complete unit that you can effect change, growth and development.