Living Abundantly: Staying in the Present and Leaving the Past

Living abundantly in the present, dismissing the past could well be the best, wisest decision you will ever make. Yes, it is a decision. You need to make your mind up to do it and summon all of your energy against all of the bad habits of thinking and feeling that will scream at you otherwise. What's more, you will have that opportunity to decide again and again. rnUp until now, when you began your quest for liberation when you said "I've had enough of wild emotions pulling me here and there", you have mostly acted out of habit and not with any real sense of conscious awareness of your actions and how your actions in turn affect you and the world around you. So one of your first tasks is to be more aware of your own mind, your thoughts and how you are thinking and then how these thoughts, whether positive or negative translate into positive or negative behavior or actions which then have their own positive or negative effects and their after effects and after effects up to infinity when it is barely visible. rnArmed with a more aware mind, you begin your path towards freedom. In the beginning you will battle with the big things- forgiving yourself, , forgiving those who have hurt you. This means patience and understanding for yourself as well as patience and understanding for others. rnYou start by letting go of anger, jealousy and hatred. You can bemoan the injustices in the world all day and night but you will not accomplish anything. You will only end up digging yourself into a very deep hole of negativity. The sooner you realize that feelings of anger, jealousy, hatred and greed, no matter how seemingly justified at times only hurt you, the sooner you will be able to let them go. rnThe past is past, there is nothing you can do about it now. What matters is how you are in the present because that will determine what your future will be like. Meditate and contemplate again and again on how dwelling in negative thoughts and attitudes becomes an act of violence towards yourself and others and determine to keep peace within your own mind. In this way, you start to dismiss the past. The past is already gone and the future is not yet here. rnBe the warrior whose arsenal is patience. As soon as you come face to face with those strong negative emotions, recognize how much these have hurt and destroyed your peace. Do not give any extra energy to this thought or feeling, just know that it is there and simple let it go. If you do not give the thought or feeling anything to feed on, it has no recourse but to move on. You do not block the thoughts or feelings, instead you face them courageously but you do not engage in them either or give them any special meaning. Then the next time it arises, it has less hold over you. rnEver notice how you have a good feeling or bad feeling, a gut feeling about something without any obvious reason? There could have been a time when theses feelings were very strong, since you paid them no mind, they now remain as mere traces in the mind. When any emotion or thoughts arise, if it is not something you want to cultivate in your live, it is best to allow them to pass. With time, they will exist as faint traces in your mind. It is also in this way that we can purify our negativities. rnYou start to have more room in your life to maneuver. You are no longer so crowded out with all the drama. You become more relaxed and peaceful. Protect this peace by becoming ever more vigilant with your thoughts and emotions. Let go of the past, let go of the negativities and what is not essential. Nurture and grow your positive attitudes of love, compassion, contentment and being happy for others even if at first it feels unnatural. This is only because you have been so used to old patterns and habits of negativity. As you welcome positive thoughts and feelings more and more, they begin to crowd out the negative ones. rnNow you have more peacefulness in your life, be ever vigilant not to cling to the past, even in the most subtle way that you dwelling on memories and setting a standard based on your past experiences. This is very important. In the same way, do not live in the future, ever hopeful, always wishing this and that. Cultivate contentment in your life right now wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever is happening around you. rnAgain and again, make the decision to dismiss the past and live today. Time is always changing and the only way to move forward is to move with the present moment. Do not be afraid of change, embrace with joyfulness what is here now. As soon as you cling to the past or hope for the future, you will have lost this moment now and your chance to feel truly alive. rnRemain in a stable balanced center free from extremes. This way you move your source of peacefulness from the external world to the inner world and from contrived thoughts to the natural and blissful non-conceptual state of mind. This in essence is meditation to dwell in the stable center in the midst of all the coming and going of the world around you. By this may you find true happiness that is not based on how sad you were previously but a lasting happiness based on living moment by moment without any reference point.