You Cannot Be Anything Other Than Present

We have been told our entire lives that the problems we face as human beings are from not being present.

I get it. I empathise with it. I was told, & believed, the same thing for a long time.

But this is not the real problem. And if we do not deal with the real problem, we do not get real results.

The Truth is, you cannot be anything other than present.

When we ruminate in the past, we do so NOW.

When we worry about the future, we do so NOW.

When we get distracted by our own thoughts & feelings, we do so NOW.

Mindfulness is simply the conscious awareness of what is already happening automatically & independently of 'you'.

Your subconscious mind controls your perception.

You see, whether you are mindful of it or not.

You hear, whether you are mindful of it or not.

You feel, whether you are mindful of it or not.

It is an automatic process.

Just try to stop seeing without closing your eyes, or stop hearing without blocking your ears.

You cannot do it.

But because we are told that being present in the solution to our problems, that is what we try to do.

So we practice mindfulness in order to 'get into' the present moment.

If the only time that exists is this very moment, how do we 'get into' something which we already are by default?

The problem is not being present.

The problem is what prevents us from being aware of it.

And there is only ONE thing that prevents us from being aware of our perception of the present moment:

The Conscious Mind.

In realizing this truth, we can now deal with the real problem.

There is nothing to "do" to get into the present moment, you are already it.

There is nothing to "do" to even be aware of it, you cannot "be mindful" of the present moment.

The Mind is the very thing preventing you from being present!

It is an Understanding, a Realization, and an Allowing.

You can see why Negation is such a popular concept in Eastern Philosophy:

To remove everything that is Untruth.

To remove everything that stands in the way.

You do not have to do anything to perceive the world around you,

And you do not have to do anything to be aware of it,

You simply have to not get in its way.

You simply have to realize that you cannot be anything other than present.

You see, you can have the moment, or the mind, but not both.

The hardest part about any of this, is Understanding that you don't have to "do" anything.

We are conditioned and wired to want to DO everything.

We want to be the ones who are mindful, and present.

We want to be the ones who are doing the thing to get the result.

And that is what keeps us stuck.

This issue of the Present Moment, is only part of the reason that we have such profound mental health issues in the world.

I am not pretending that this fixes everything.

Yes, there is Peace in the present moment.

Yes, the Conscious Mind is the Barrier.

But the Conscious Mind is a formidable foe.

One that many do not even realise is the problem.

It's web runs deep within us, and it takes more than a single insight to untangle the threads that keep us trapped.

The least we can do, is look for the real problem.

You can have the moment, or the mind, but not both.

To Your Success,

Alec.