May the NOW be with you

In my previous class on MIndfulness for Beginners last week, I talked about how we must not allow our thoughts to run us. And that there are thoughts that are real, and most are not because they are based on the past or a future fantasy. One participant asked me what is real then?

My response was: the only reality is that one second of reality, the NOW, whenever we are aware. That is reality. In that one second of reality, we have no fear, we have no stress, we only have the NOW in our in-breath and our out-breath.  

This is why there is always an emphasis to focus on breathing for anyone suffering from an inability to manage stress.

And if we can stretch out the NOW, not just for one second but for much longer, and if we are able to experience the NOW for extended periods of time, we would be in touch with reality for so much longer and our blood pressure goes down and our breathing is even. 

I heard this from one of my mentors: people who suffer from high blood pressure are living in the future, they are focused on the what-ifs, and they entertain the fantasy of bad things happening, and they use their energies to worry. 

This has been on my mind since, and I do believe that there are elements of truth in this. 

Most of us have the habit of either entertaining the future or indulging in the past. This not only throws us off centre, and can be damaging to our health in the long term, and it can short circuit our energy system. What I mean by this is that our energies will not be able to flow effectively as they should, instead they will flow in all kinds of directions that don’t allow the whole energy system to be self-sustaining. This is where we get overly tired, grumpy, and just plain stressed. 

Pondering on the idea of the NOW as the only reality, some people may say that this is a route to escape from reality. On the contrary, this is being in touch with reality, with the understanding that there everything in life is not within our control, the only thing we can control is where to place our focus and attention in our minds. The rest, well, we are nowhere near from controlling. 

Personally, I've learned some hard lessons on this, whether it was from my design/marketing studio business in my early days, backpacking around India, to relationships, they all have one common thing to teach me, and that is NOTHING is within my control. The only reality is NOW.

Some people see my zen attitude as a could not care less attitude, some people think I am cold and heartless, just because I am not giving my energies to things I cannot control. But I do not want to play this sort of game in life, simply because it is not sustainable. 

With this global lockdown, we are all tested to the max on how to stay in the NOW. If you are struggling with this, join me in my next class on Mindfulness happening on 28th April 8.30am (Singapore time), hope to see you then. Go to this link >>> https://www.shamalatan.info/mindfulness

May the NOW be with you. 

©2020 Shamala Tan

Let me know how I can assist you if you have any questions [email protected]

Shamala Tan is an author, spiritual entrepreneur and healer. Her work focuses on transforming the lives of others on the spiritual, emotional, mental and earthly level.

One of her success stories as an author is to being featured alongside New York’s bestsellers Sonia Choquette, Robert Allen, Arielle Ford, Marci Shimoff as well as Christine Kloser in the book Pebbles In The Pond.

Shamala’s clients include small business owners, holistic practitioners as well as those seeking to find more significant meaning and value in life. Shamala offers laser coaching to her clients on a one-to-one basis or in a group environment, offline as well as online.