When I grow up, I’d like to be a scientist. When I was younger, I wished I was a football player for my school team. When I become rich, I’ll buy myself this Aston Martin that’ll look grand along side my pad in Beverley Hills. I’m going to travel the world and I’m going to live this dream and I’m going to fulfill this desire..... “ said all of us to us !
Until recently, I struggled to understand the difference between my past and my future, I skipped the “today is a gift” quote.
Let’s take nothing away from having dreams and desires, and even bashing our past or cherishing it but there just has to be a reason why they say “yesterday was the past and tomorrow is a mystery”.
When I heard the mayor of Hawaii Billy Kenoi deliver his speech, he quoted something that pinched a nerve. He said “what lies behind you and what lies before you are tiny matters compared to what lies within you.” How beautiful is that. In short, he referred to understanding the importance of now. Over the years I’ve come to understand that everything you do everyday leads to your today and what you do today defines your tomorrow.
Today is what it is, it is what we control and put all of those today’s together and you’re building something that you don’t have to dream of achieving anymore.
In the field of crisis negotiation or mental strength and conditioning we spend a great deal of time readying the people we work with to understand the value of that very moment, it’s once they cherish the gratefulness of where they are at now and come to terms with the power of today that allows us to set the tone to help them build beyond.
To be ‘content’ is an art. Pause for a minute as you read this and ask yourself this question “Am I happy that I’ve been given an opportunity to wake up today?”.
However most of us wake up for tomorrow or wake up for yesterday and trust me that’s natural, but a little adjustment could allow us a better response to the question we just asked ourselves.
But how do we do it? Again I’m no guru on advice and each story differs but here’s a common success trend I’ve noticed in my field that works most of the time.
The term is “Presencing”. Getting to understand right now and feeling a part of yourself at this very moment completes this practise.
Presencing is a state of mind that is the collaboration of you being content with where you’re at.
There’s a difference between content and desire, being content means valuing your achievements and everything that comes with celebrating this very moment, but you must also have desire, I repeat also. . You couldn’t do it yesterday, you missed out on the hour, you think the moments gone by?
But think about it today too and you’re surely dragging this thought into tomorrow as well, versus acting on it and making a difference to all of it now.
Straying off topic to understand how presencing was practiced during the mythological era. Guru Dronacharya was accused of favouring a certain student whilst tutoring the art of the bow and arrow.
To prove his point he put all his students to a test in which he placed a wooden pigeon on a tree and asked them to take aim and fire the arrow.
However before he allowed them to strike the target he asked each of the archers what they saw, to which one of his student said he saw a branch, a tree, some leaves and a wooden pigeon, the archers that followed had the same response, all but one.
Arjuna who was considered the student the Guru was favouring was asked the same question, to which he replied “I can only see the eye of the bird”.
Just like Arjuna your present is going to be a challenge of so many visions that present themselves before you, the past, the future, the imaginary. But if you can lead that vision to look at what today brings you’ve set aside the distractions that eventually affect everything that follows. Arjuna is considered one of the greatest ever marksmen, even in modern era.
So make a list of what you have instead of what you don’t have. I never recommend comparison but do this just once versus someone you perceive isn’t as fortunate.
Trust me there is always someone who isn’t as lucky as you “ something as little as a shelter above your head, a padding below your feet, a smile from just one person who cares and a little something to eat.
Considering you’ve had the time to read this feature on your cell phone or on the daily be blessed that you even have these eight minutes to spare today to educate yourself on the importance of now, it’s something as little as that.
Remember the happy face of Winnie the Pooh? He asked Piglet once “What day is it today?”
And Piglet said, “It’s today” for which Pooh replied saying, “My favourite day”.
