Passing Through Present-Time
As you move through your days, do you notice that your relationship with time has changed? First of all, there seems to be less of it. And what little remains is jam packed with commitments and obligations. In a very real sense, many are moving from the past into the future without even a glance at the present moment.
We are leap-frogging over the present to get to the future as we drag our past along. Business travel offers a tremendous opportunity to observe your relationship with time and where you are at every moment. As you rent the car, are you thinking about directions to the hotel (future), and in that unfocused moment misplace your driver’s license and have to go out of your way to retrieve it? As you check into the hotel, are you reminded of another (past) stay and forget to ask for a king-size bed?
Even in our personal lives, we rush through the present from the past into the future. As you check your email, is your attention on the conversation with your partner an hour ago? As you prepare your meal, are you focused upon it or is your attention on finishing up your taxes after dinner? Keeping your attention in the past or future can, at the very least, be stressful. Long term attention on the past or future can cause an imbalance in your present-time experience and your ultimate success, ease and well-being.
James attended a Level 1 seminar in Toronto, Canada. He was enthusiastic and ready to make changes in his life. He was also not in present-time. James asked many, many questions. Non-stop. Most of his concerns and questions were based upon experiences from the past (childhood injuries, lost relationships, unsatisfying career) and worries about the future (money, new town, his heath). The moment I answered one question, he had three more flowing out of his mouth.
He didn’t hear the answers and had his full attention on a time other than the present. Only after frequently and gently being reminded to ground and bring his attention back to the present moment did James take a breath and slow down. (“All your questions will indeed be answered, I promise. The answers lie exactly where the question is asked.”) By the end of the weekend he was quiet, in his body (pain-free), present, and saying he was the calmest he had been in a very long time.
Present-time is the only place from which you can successfully create, whether you are creating a day at the beach or a business meeting. Your body is in the present – right here and now. Keeping your attention with your body, instead of the past or future will allow greater health, well-being, success, and laughter. The only way to solve a problem is from the present. When you misplace your driver’s license at the airport, the only way you will know how to proceed is from the grounded present.
Self-Coaching Tool
Before you are in the thick of a stressful situation practice using your tools. If you practice them when you don’t need them, you’ll have them at your fingertips when you do. Try asking yourself one of these questions as often as possible during each day for a wonderful time-check:
“What thought am I thinking right now?” (going shopping, the meeting we just completed, my kid at home)
“Where am I?: – Past, future or present? In my body?
“How did I get here?” Try to trace back the (unconscious?) thought-path that got you here.
Asking yourself these three questions will bring your attention and your energy back to the powerful, present moment from which ease and success flow. The Grounding Cord tool and the Center of the Head tool will also help tremendously.
no charge basis.