La Parroquia in San Miguel de Allende

In part 1 of the Living in the Flow of the Now Moment Series, I gave a simple, yet powerful technique for living in the now called savoring. Most all techniques on a personal growth path or spiritual path are meant to be simple. This doesn’t mean they are always easy, but when you find yourself confused or if things seem complicated, there is a good chance that your mind has run away with you and it is time to come back to self. Here is another simple, yet powerful tool you can use to stay in the precious now moment.

I am writing this in the beautiful colonial town of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico where I have been living for two months. The first day I was here I was awestruck by all the bright colored doors and quaint cobble stone streets. Everywhere I looked I saw a picture I wanted to take with my camera. However, my camera wasn’t working. I was a little disappointed because I knew that the shear exquisiteness of the town would not impact me the way it did this first day. I knew that once I had become accustomed to what I was seeing, I would not notice it like I was now. This is because once the mind knows something, it has a tendency to not notice it like it did the first time. There is less awareness of it.

The problem with this is that when doing the same routine people tend to become mind-less instead of mind-full. How many of us have arrived at work after commuting the same streets a hundred times realizing that we don’t even remember that morning’s drive to the office? The mind is so familiar with the route it has taken many times over that it simply checks out. This checking out is another way you put yourself out of the now moment. You are simply not present. You must be present in the now moment to experience it.

After a time I decided to buy a new camera. I found one I liked and went out to the streets of San Miguel to take photos. With the help of the new camera, I consciously chose to see San Miguel anew. I again saw the many beautiful wooden doors, each with their own style and color. I saw the reflections of the light as it danced off the coble stone streets of the City after a rain. I felt a sense of excitement and appreciation for the splendor of this place so full of history and hundreds of years of creative expression from its inhabitants. I was in the Flow of the now moment.

A wonderful technique that puts you in the now moment is to find what is new in each moment. This is similar to what Buddhists call the beginner mind. In any given moment you can always find something that is new and fresh. Even if it is the same commute you have taken every day, you can find a way the light plays on the side of a building you hadn’t noticed before.

Looking at things anew, puts you in the now moment. As you focus your awareness you become alert. You become present in the moment. The more you are present in the now, the more you enter the State of Flow.

In part 1 of the Living in the Flow of the Now Moment Series, I gave a simple, yet powerful technique for living in the now called savoring. Most all techniques on a personal growth path or spiritual path are meant to be simple. This doesn’t mean they are always easy, but when you find yourself confused or if things seem complicated, there is a good chance that your mind has run away with you and it is time to come back to self. Here is another simple, yet powerful tool you can use to stay in the precious now moment.

I am writing this in the beautiful colonial town of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico where I have been living for two months. The first day I was here I was awestruck by all the bright colored doors and quaint cobble stone streets. Everywhere I looked I saw a picture I wanted to take with my camera. However, my camera wasn’t working. I was a little disappointed because I knew that the shear exquisiteness of the town would not impact me the way it did this first day. I knew that once I had become accustomed to what I was seeing, I would not notice it like I was now. This is because once the mind knows something, it has a tendency to not notice it like it did the first time. There is less awareness of it.

The problem with this is that when doing the same routine people tend to become mind-less instead of mind-full. How many of us have arrived at work after commuting the same streets a hundred times realizing that we don’t even remember that morning’s drive to the office? The mind is so familiar with the route it has taken many times over that it simply checks out. This checking out is another way you put yourself out of the now moment. You are simply not present. You must be present in the now moment to experience it.

After a time I decided to buy a new camera. I found one I liked and went out to the streets of San Miguel to take photos. With the help of the new camera, I consciously chose to see San Miguel anew. I again saw the many beautiful wooden doors, each with their own style and color. I saw the reflections of the light as it danced off the coble stone streets of the City after a rain. I felt a sense of excitement and appreciation for the splendor of this place so full of history and hundreds of years of creative expression from its inhabitants. I was in the Flow of the now moment.

A wonderful technique that puts you in the now moment is to find what is new in each moment. This is similar to what Buddhists call the beginner mind. In any given moment you can always find something that is new and fresh. Even if it is the same commute you have taken every day, you can find a way the light plays on the side of a building you hadn’t noticed before.

Looking at things anew, puts you in the now moment. As you focus your awareness you become alert. You become present in the moment. The more you are present in the now, the more you enter the State of Flow.

© Kristopher for Inspiration From Kristopher Raphael, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Who is linking?
Post tags: flow state, golden flow, Growth Path, in the flow, living in the now, now moment, personal growth, San Miguel De Allende, Spiritual Path, The Flow

Make certain to check out The Golden Flow and The Law of Attraction

By now you have probably heard and read much about living in the now moment. Perhaps you have had glimpses of its benefits. You want to live in the now, but often this state of living in the now seems elusive and difficult to maintain. So how do you live in the now? Here I want to give you the first simple, yet powerful technique.

Living in the now moment is an essential ingredient for living in the Flow. Living in the Flow has many benefits. When in the Flow State, you worry less and therefore have less stress. Living stress free has numerous physical benefits such as increased immune function and lower blood pressure, which can lead to reduced heart disease. When living in the Flow, people also enjoy numerous psychological benefits such as feeling more secure, and happy. People in the Flow have an exuberance about life that is contagious. When you are in the Flow you have a greater capacity to cope and to deal with whatever life brings you. Living in the Flow is often accompanied by a wonderful state of well being.

There is a simple technique for living in the now moment that is conducive to the Flow State. This technique helps eliminate two of the biggest causes of being out of The Flow – ruminating about the past, and worrying about the future.

Negative or painful emotions such as being sad, angry, or depressed knock you out of the Flow State. These emotions such as chronic anger, for example, are often brought on by continually regurgitating something that happened to you in the past. This isn’t to say you should never get angry. There is a place for anger. However, authentic anger, like most authentic feelings pass through you. You get angry in the moment, and then it passes. However, when you begin to recall other times you were angry, or people who made you anger, then the anger builds and you become consumed by it. When in the now moment, you are no longer focused on the past and emotional charges no longer have a hold over you.

Worrying about the future, or having fear about what will happen or won’t happen also puts you out of the Flow. Chronic anxiety is caused by the constant worrying about what will happen to you. For many, such future tripping is the norm. They are constantly playing out what if scenarios in their head, ‘what if he rejects me,’ what if she says no,’ ‘what if I don’t have enough money,’ and so on. Here too, when you return to the now moment by focusing on the now moment instead of projecting into the future, you eliminate the worry, fear and anxiety that comes from being over preoccupied with the future.

It is easy to see how constantly churning past memories or habitually projecting what you think might happen or might not happen in the future, puts you out of the Flow, leading to a pretty miserable life. Instead of focusing on the past or future, if you focus on the now moment it easy to see how you can free yourself from negative emotions and worry. So how do you remain focused on the now moment?

There are several good techniques for this. However, they all basically come down awareness and your minds ability to focus on only one thing at once. Have you ever tried to listen to someone in the room talking to you while at the same time carry on a conversation on the phone? It is very difficult. The mind has difficulty splitting its attention on more than one thing at the same time, especially for extended periods of time. This is actually a good thing when it comes to living in the now.

Living in the now is no longer a new age spiritual or metaphysical concept. Recently, psychology has looked at the benefits of the Flow State and living in the now. They have come up with effective techniques to do so. One such technique is called ‘savoring’. When you savor a delicious bite of your favorite food, done to perfection, where is your focus? Are you ruminating about something someone did to you in the past? Are you worrying about what is going to happen at tomorrow’s dentist appointment? No, your awareness is focused on that wonderful lump of food in your mouth. You are focused right here, right now, in that beautiful now moment. You have just entered the State of Flow where life is good and you are full of well being.

As you go about your day, savor. Welcome whatever is in your now moment with unhurried appreciation. Savor the fresh air, the beautiful clouds, the life force coursing through your body…there is always something you can find to savor in any given moment.

Welcome to the magnificent now moment, an essential key to living in the Flow. Watch for the next technique for living in the now coming soon.

© Kristopher for Inspiration From Kristopher Raphael, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us Who is linking?
Post tags: flow state, heart disease, immune function, living in the flow, lower blood pressure, now moment, painful emotions, power of now

Make certain to check out The Golden Flow and The Law of Attraction