Modern day mystic Eckart Tolle has a book called the Power of Now. The hippies in the 60s had a slogan: “Live for Today.” Twelve step programs encourage folks to take their recovery One Day at a Time.
These are all the same ways of talking about the same thing: we limit ourselves by basing today’s decisions and reactions on history. We put our walls up, insulating ourselves from intimacy, because things were tough as a kid, or because our significant other broke our heart. We limit our behavior and interactions in areas of our lives because we feel unsafe and fragile. Yet such insulation also tends to insulate us from the sunlight of the spirit. And limitations tend to produce limits in other areas of our lives.
I’m the first to say that at times I still live in limitation and insulation, although it is much better than it used to be. Life lived on a no holds barred basis is much more rewarding than a life lived in limits, but yet sometimes I still retreat into that seemingly safe place.
I am here to tell you today that you can be safe no matter where you go, no matter what you do, no matter who you are with. And you can live in today without the limitations of the past hindering your behavior and reactions.
Take a look at your history, and your behavior as a result of it. Ask yourself some questions: If I were to act differently today, what would that look like? If I were to ignore my history and live in today, what would my life be like? If I were to stop blaming others for what happened, and instead simply look at my own stuff, how would that free me? If I were to let loose of the bondage of the past, where could I go, what could I do?
If I had a connection with a Spirit that was everywhere present, all powerful, and loving and kind, would I then still feel vulnerable and unsafe? If I knew without a doubt that my thoughts were God-thoughts, would I then be so judgemental of myself? If I lived in the sunlight of the spirit, would I then feel it’s warmth, no matter how cloudy and cold it was outside of myself?
Heady questions all of these. Yet I submit to you that if you ponder some of these questions you will begin to realize that you need not have limits in your life. You need not put up walls to feel safe, because you are always safe. You need not say no, because yes will open you up to paths and experiences you never dreamed could happen in your world. Yes becomes an option.
But in order for yes to become an option, we do need to do some work to come to terms with the past and stop fearing the future. I’m not going to tell you to let go of the past. I’m suggesting you consider it from a different perspective. Instead of blaming and putting walls up to prevent it from happening again, try looking at your own behavior. If something happened to you as a child, you percieved it from a child’s point of view, from a very immature perspective. Are you now going to base your actions, reactions and decisions on that same immature perspective, or perhaps you might want to acknowledge that you’ve matured a bit and can see things differently? What were you doing when your significant other broke your heart? Were you available? Were you capable of intimacy? Perhaps you were so wrapped up in your own stuff, for whatever reason, that there was simply no room for another human being to coexist. Or maybe it was simple matter of you being no longer on the same path as them. Do you want to deny yourself the possibility of a rewarding relationship with another human being simply because the last one didn’t work out? Yes, there is work to be done when a relationship ends. If you don’t do the work you are indeed setting yourself up for failure again, because you will select the same person, just with a different face and name. This is living in the past at it’s worst.
Today, take a short journey into the past so that you can come to terms with it and allow yourself to live freely in the now.
Sometimes people fear the future. They worry, they fret, they try to control things. I’ve done it too: I’ve worried so much I’ve made myself physically ill. This is very counterproductive! Worry produces nothing except physical illness and fear. Wouldn’t it be a better way to instead live in the now? I’m not telling you to not plan, not make goals. Goal setting is good, as is setting intentions. But sometimes we drift beyond that, into the land of “what if.” Anytime you hear yourself saying “what if” you are not living in the now.
The philosophy that I believe in says that we are one with Spirit, that our thoughts have power, and that by changing our thinking we can change the external conditions of our lives and that because we are One with Spirit, we are powerful beyond words.
It’s all about being one with Spirit. You can call it whatever you want, you can try and define it and describe it. It can even be a God outside of yourself if that iswhat works for you, although I have found it much more rewarding to know, believe, feel and acknowledge the presence that I AM. If I am a part of the One, and the One is part of me, we are connected, no matter what I do or where I go. It simply becomes a matter of reminding myself of that regularly. Once I am conscious of my Oneness, worry then becomes irrelevant, not even on my list of things to do.
If you are worrying, go to that place of connectedness with whatever you want to call God. Acknowledge that you are well, right here and right now. Carry that connection with you, all day, just for today, then do it all over again tomorrow.
Do the work necessary to live in today, and you will find a life rewarding beyond your wildest dreams.
And remember, if you have one foot in yesterday and one foot in tomorrow, you are pissing all over today!
