today, I want to talk about the power of presence. In today's fast paced world, we often find ourselves caught in the past or worrying about the future, rarely stopping to appreciate the present moment we're in. But the truth is, the present moment is all we have. And when we embrace it, we open the door to the possibility of experiencing a sense of deep inner peace and fulfillment. You see, when we bring the past and the future into the now, we're missing the now. We're not able to experience what life has in front of us. We're actually continually reliving the future or worrying about the past that's not happened and probably never will happen. And so the whole idea of being in the now is you have no worry. So you do have that sense of inner peace and you do have that sense of fulfillment because every moment is complete unto itself. You see, presence is the state where we're fully aware and engaged in the here and now. It's about bringing and holding our attention to this moment without being distracted by the thoughts of the past or the future. It's another way of rephrasing what I talked about just a little earlier. The only moment that exists is now. The only moment that ever will exist is now. And in the now, there will always be a new worldly mental emotional experience for you to experience. To bring the past your future in denies you the ability to deal what's what in front of, right in front of you. That's the spiritual journey. Dealing with that what's in front of you and when you're done with it, release it, let it go and deal with what's in front of you. You see, when we're fully present, we experience life directly. We experience reality with our judgment, expectation or worthy. If you're living in the past, you're not experiencing life directory directly. You're not experiencing the reality in front of you. You're experiencing something your mind has made up and it's made it up with a lot of judgment with a lot of expectations or worry. But if you're just dealing with that moment, that present moment in front of you, that's the reality. Now, keep in mind, the mind and your emotions may sign a value to it, but at least you're dealing with what's in front of you. And you see, presence is not something you have to search for. It's already within you. We often lose touch with it because our minds are so busy. We are incessantly thinking about what we need to do next. We play in past conversations or planning for tomorrow. This is the game of the mind. Unceasing chatter. Our job is to step back into awareness and reconnect with our true selves and with a life as it is. See, life is going to always be moving, always changing, always there. We lose touch with what's in front of us because that mind of ours is just nonstop chatter. It's the monkey mind. You hear that in all meditations or I've got this monkey mind. It never stops talking. Why? Because that's what the mind does. It's incessant talking. Now, the mind will rationalize and tell you right now, don't listen to this guy. He doesn't know what he's talking about. That's the mind. The mind doesn't want you to be present because if you're present, the mind doesn't have any power over you. The ego always wants to control. The ego always wants to be rife. But when you're living in awareness and you reconnect with your true self, now you're dealing with life in front of you. So what are the benefits of being present? The first one is clarity. When we're present, our minds are not clouded by unnecessary thoughts. Ergo, we make better decisions. We respond more wisely and we live more authentically. So being present means our minds are focused on what's right there. And when we do that, my God, we make so much better decisions. But think about if that chatter is going on and we're bringing in the past, we're not making a clear decision. We're not going to be wise. We're just going to be repeating the past over and over again. Another benefit is of being present is peace of mind. When you're fully present worries and anxiety fade away because you're not giving them any power. We find ourselves more relaxed, more at ease and more content. Being in the now, we're not bringing in the zillions of things that have happened or could possibly happen in the future. We're dealing with one thing, the thing in front of us. Isn't that just thinking about it more relaxing? Does that not put you more at ease? The other thing is being present, it's connection. When we're present with someone, we truly listen. We truly engage and we create deeper and more meaningful relationships. When we are present with ourselves, we learn to accept and love who we are without judgment. But if we're in the past, what are we doing? We're judging. If we're forecasting the future and we've got anxiety, what are we doing? We're judging. When we judge, we don't engage. We're not even in love. Think about that. Judgment and love are the exact opposite. Being in the now is love. Being in the past is not loving. Being in the future is not loving. You're not accepting what is. Love is about accepting what is and being fully present with it. So what are some of the big obstacles to being present? Number one, our mind. Our mind loves to be and live in the past or the future to dwell on regrets or to anticipate what's next. This mental activity of the mind pulls us away from the present moment. One of the things that I find, I love to use a mantra because when I use a mantra, it stops my mind from talking because I'm focusing it. So if you just take a simple mantra, just say the word piece. If you just kept saying the word piece over and over and over again, you're not thinking because you're having to focus and say that. So the mind's not controlling you. It's not going to the past. But if the mind goes, "Why are you saying peace?" That's the mind coming in. "No, I want to talk about the past. You're wasting time." Really? Only in the mind's eye and the mind just wants to create chaos. It's what it does best. Another obstacle about being present is attachment. We believe that our thoughts and emotions are who we are. But in truth, they're just a passing phenomena. We get attached to thoughts. Doing this, doing that, having this emotion, avoiding that emotion. And that attachment is constantly moving. Attachment is the source of all suffering. If thoughts come in, thoughts go out, emotions come in, emotions go out, there's no suffering. You're in the flow of life. But the second you bring in attachments, that's when suffering really takes hold. The other thing that's an obstacle to being present are distractions. We are constantly bombarded with information and stimuli that pull our attention away from being present. Who are the greatest obstacles to this or what are the greatest obstacles? Our phones and our to-do lists. Man, you know, there's a lot of great that comes from having a cell phone. But I think unless you're the master of how you use it, it's a distraction. It keeps you from being the present. What are you doing? Oh, what's so-and-so doing on Instagram, on Facebook, on Twitter? Well, how's that making you present? How are you fully present living life? No, you've gone into a world, a fantasy world, a world that doesn't exist. And you're not dealing with life. And I'm going to tell you everything you want is the experience in life. So how do we become more present? The first one is mindful breathing, taking time every day to consciously breathe in and consciously breathe out. I'm a huge fan and follower of Wim Hof. I love his breathing technique. You can find that on YouTube, Wim Hof breathing. And I would do the beginning one, 11 minutes. I do that every morning. Number one, I'm oxygenating my oxygenating my body. Number two, with that type of breathing, I've shut down my mind because I'm too focused on my breath. I'm actually taking control. So, and also, think about this, when you're breathing, you control your thoughts, the speed of them, you control your emotions, the speed of them. Think about it. If you're feeling a sense of anxiety, long, slow, deep inhale, long, slower, deep exhale, you will calm down simply through your breath. Another way to become more present is awareness of your body. That's right. Notice what your body is feeling. Notice what it's sensing. We've lost touch with our body. We don't realize that our body is always telling us. And one of the things that I think is really important to learn is, is your body relaxed or is it tense? Chances are if your body's tense and there's not intimate danger in front of you, i.e., there's a lion not in a cage right in front of you, you will be tense. Your body will tense up. But most of the time, in our world today, our bodies are tense and it has no reason. In reality, the easiest way to be present is to relax the body and be in the moment. Another way to become more present is listen mindfully, really consciously focused to listen. If you're watching a YouTube video, you're watching this, listen to every word. Don't say, yeah, he should change this, he should do that. No, listen to every word. When you're in a conversation with someone, listen to every word. Stop trying to automatically give your solution. No, that's not mindful listening. You want to be in the moment and you want to be fully present and listen. Another way to become more present is to be grateful for everything. Everything that unfolds in front of you, you should be grateful for because everything unfolding in front of you is a life experience. And everything that's unfolding, you're having greater and greater and greater experiences. For me, the purpose of life is to have as many unique experiences as possible. I believe that's how our soul learns, not through what we say, not through what we think, not through what we feel, but through what we experience. When we are fully present, we tap into our inner sense of being. We become more aware of the interconnectedness of all of life and we experience a profound sense of unity with the universe. When we're fully present, we connect to a deeper sense of being and we become aware of the interconnectedness of all of life and we experience a profound sense of unity. Have you ever been in nature where all of a sudden your awareness of your body disappears and you feel connected to the ground to everything around you? I've had that experience in the jungles of Peru, in the mountains of the Himalayas. I've had that in my own backyard, just sitting there with Mother Nature, a sense of complete unity. There's nothing better. I think we've lost touch with Mother Nature and how we are really a part of it. Mother Nature is breathing in and through and as us. No matter how we become present, whether it's through meditation, prayer, mindful living, we begin to take our journey on that path to enlightenment and it's here we find inner peace in the present moment. The key thing I want to remember, I don't believe anyone on the planet remains enlightened all the time. I believe we have moments of enlightenment. Those moments are the moments where we experience oneness, we're fully present with that which one is in front of us in this moment. You see, living in the present moment is our only choice but it takes great courage and commitment as we're going to be going against the tide of humanity. Humanity is about caught up. It's just so caught up in the ego, caught up in the mind, caught up in the past, caught up in the doing. It's absolute chaos. The question I ask you is, do you want what everyone else is experiencing or do you know at the core of your being? There's more and I can step off this train and I can go down on my own path. One of the things that I always talk about is that to remember that everything begins and ends with you and if you understand that, what are you waiting for? Begin your journey, reclaim your power, live in the moment, be present, be the light and you will find such a reward that you will never turn back because you'll constantly be growing brighter and brighter having a deeper and deeper divine experience, something that the human mind and body cannot even imagine. Just remember, it's a choice and it begins with you.
