It's an annual tradition now that, as one year winds down and the next waits in the wings, I start to think about what I can do better or differently or for entirely the first time in the coming year.
I’m not alone, as ads for diets, exercise gear and stop-smoking aids will attest. The 'clean slate' concept has a powerful appeal and is, at least initially, a great motivator. Magazines and websites know this and are standing by with suggestions, checklists and menus to organize your desk drawers, take the next step in your career path or drop ten pounds by Valentine’s Day!
As I consider what I’d like to accomplish and how I’d like to get there, at this particular moment I’m feeling that I’d like to be in the moment more often. That is to say, I’d like to transform “Be Here. Now” from the reminder I give my daughter to my own reality. (Which is kind of ironic given that I’m thinking about ‘being here, now’ tomorrow.)
Anyway.
Last month (there I go, looking back again) I picked up a copy at Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now”. In concept and content, it had enough appeal for me to support the Riverhead Free Library and bring it home to delve deeper. More irony as the book about “Now” had to wait til I got the overdue notice to be yanked off the pile of books that I plan to get to… soon. (If only there was a market for “Procrastination Now” which reminds me, I could submit that as a T-shirt slogan on Threadless.com. BRB.)
Where was I? Oh yeah, my goal to live in the “Now”. So last night I finally crack it open. The heart of the book is that YOU are not your thoughts and to live now is to focus in the moment, rather than thinking back or looking ahead. Not a new concept but it’s good to take it in again… and this time it’s accompanied with suggestions on how to do it. That is usually the tricky part. It’s not that we don’t know we should be living more in the moment, it’s just that nobody can ever really tell you how.
Well, just a few pages into it, there’s a reference to Abraham Maslow’s concept of ‘peak experiences’ and how, in those moments, you are totally present. And there it is, the shortcut I’ve been looking for.
"Peak Experiences" are essentially defined as “sudden feelings of intense happiness and well-being… that fills the individual with wonder and awe. Self-validating, self-justifying moments with their own intrinsic value; never negative, unpleasant or evil; disoriented in time and space; and accompanied by a loss of fear, anxiety, doubts, and inhibitions."
You know, that really blissful feeling triggered by a stunning sunset, a particularly amazing piece of music, a great physical accomplishment, or even a quieter version, like playing with a puppy... And, as Mr. Tolle points out, as you are having that moment of joy, you are absolutely 100% IN THAT MOMENT. Not in yesterday or tomorrow but right there. With the sunset or the music or the dog.
So I’m thinking that my quest, my goal (and a darn nice shortcut for trying to stop the incessant chatter in my head) will be to stay open to and be aware of those peak experiences in the coming year.
I’m going to dial down the requirement, too, in an attempt to make them more plentiful. Rather than having to conquer Mount Everest, I know I can experience intense happiness and well-being from something really funny, or furry (my dogs and cats snap me into a right now), re-connecting with friends (even via a quick facebook exchange)… then of course there’s the magic of myPod (I LOVE this song!) that never fails to lift my spirits… the geese that fly over my house twice a day, the Long Island Sound a few blocks north…
It seems that it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to have at least one pure, fabulously uplifting moment every day. And if one is easy, two is possible and maybe, by the time I’m looking ahead to the following year, I won’t be looking ahead at all but be happily living in the moment every minute.
But for now, I’ll try to "Be Here Now", at least once a day.
