Get Out of Your Head and Into the Present Moment!

The present moment is all we have. So why don’t we stay in it? The question is simple, but the answer isn’t. We refuse to stay in the present moment, in real life, for multiple reasons.

For some, the present moment is too dull. We want drama and we don’t know how to live without it. So we will escape from the dullness of the present moment through thoughts that create negative landscapes and emotions—thoughts that will guarantee our continued victim-hood or martyrdom.

For others, the present moment is lacking. We want one of two things: Either something we have never experienced or something that we no longer experience in the reality of the moment. It may be that we are lonely for the great lover that we have never encountered, and so instead of living this present moment as it is, we escape into the fantasy of our thoughts about meeting that great lover; of experiencing him/her and all of the ecstasy that we believe we are missing. We are creating a fake future. Or it may be that we are longing for the great lover that we were once in relationship with, but are no longer. We may have lost this person through death, divorce, neglect or self-sabotage. And we are holding on to the past. In both of these situations, we are erasing the present moment by longing for something the present fails to provide. In other words, we aren’t accepting life and reality.

Then there are those of us who don’t want to accept that we are older, or that our bodies are failing us or that we haven’t achieved all that we had hope to do by this point in our lives. We wallow in the land of regret. We mourn the fact that life has passed us by, or life is about to end through terminal illness or that life hasn’t been fair. We aren’t willing to accept life on life’s terms—as it is—and so we are living in our heads: in past regrets, in future fears, in anyplace but the present moment.

If we are creating our own reality through an insatiable need for daily drama, or through fantasizing about what could be or what has been, or through regrets, we are placing real life on hold. Nothing positive can ever come from escaping reality. Instead of escaping reality, we need to be part of it. Instead of fantasizing, we need to be actively creating all that our hearts truly long for by simply being alive to each and every moment. In accepting each moment as it is, we will find graces and joys that we never dreamed were possible. By being in the here and now, we have the opportunity to notice someone or something that we’ve never noticed before. Or we may find forms of healing our fears or regrets in the now that we never knew were possible to experience. By shedding our virtual reality, we can be open to what ever the present has to offer us. We can enter the real world and accept it as it is—not as we would have it be.

All we need is now and the willingness to accept the now. Let’s allow the now to unfold moment by moment. Let’s face each moment with open hearts. Let’s experience all that we have been missing. Let’s allow our souls to shine!