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Appreciate Here and Now

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No matter what’s going on in your life right now, there’s something to appreciate about it.

Sometimes the gifts of the moment aren’t recognized until later. The benefit of hindsight helps to bring them into focus. Even the difficult experiences like serious health challenges come packaged with aspects to appreciate, but they sometimes require the buffer of time to recognize.

The act of appreciation rivets our consciousness to this present moment. With our attention focused on the here and now, we are living life fully, since right now is the only time there ever is.

“If you are not happy here and now, you never will be.” – Taisen Deshimaru

Modified Memories

The past is a memory. The memory may be accurate, or it may be modified as needed. A painful experience in the past may be remembered in such a way as to lessen the pain. A joyful experience may be remembered in such a way as to increase the joy.

We are powerful beings and this ability to adjust our memories as desired illustrates our ability to relive the past in whatever way we choose. But at what cost? Accurate, enhanced or diminished memories all have one thing in common. In order to relive them, you must be willing to give up this present moment.

“Ultimately you are not taking responsibility for life until you take responsibility for this moment – Now. This is because Now is the only place where life can be found.” – Eckhart Tolle (from the book, “Stillness Speaks.”)

Don’t Waste Now on the Past

Any time your attention is focused on the past, you are missing out on whatever is in front of you right here, right now. The remembered event from the past has already had its place in the sun. It was once right here and now, but its moment is gone. Now it’s time for a new experience and a fresh perspective available only in this present moment. To trade this immediate moment for an experience that has already come and gone is a terrible waste.

“Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it.” – William James “Will” Durant (1885-1981)

“He is blessed over all mortals who loses no moment of the passing life in remembering the past.” – Henry David Thoreau

A Quick Brush with the Past

Dwelling on the past is the most common way to squander this present moment. But a quick, glancing brush with our past experiences can serve us very well in the present. Our memories of past experiences help us to apply what we have learned to whatever we are experiencing now. This can happen in a flash, with virtually no presence sacrificed. The instant the memory of the past experience presents itself, along with the lesson learned, we apply it to the present situation. We move on with our attention still focused on this present moment.

“I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.” – Anthony Robbins

The problem begins when we think of some event in the past and then launch into a series of “what ifs” and “I should haves” and “if onlys.” These are insidious mental traps that can swallow you up, escalating from one to the next, until your present moment is perpetually devoured, wasted and gone forever. Not a good trade.

“Begin doing what you want to do now . . . We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand–and melting like a snowflake.” – Marie Beyon Ray

Thoughts of the future can be a similar diversion, but they can also provide a valuable mental tool if we don’t allow ourselves to become consumed in the details of another time and place.

A Quick Brush with the Future

When we plan, we are focusing our attention on the future. This out-picturing of imagination is preparing your future, as you desire it. The trick is to do it deliberately, with feeling, and a sense of presence rooted firmly in this present moment. Used this way, the imagination, with an eye on the future, is a powerful creator, and a tool of personal power, used deliberately and consciously in this present moment.

“What is now proved was once only imagined.” – William Blake (1757-1827)

Don’t Waste Now on the Future

The problem begins when we dwell upon some hypothetical future event without focus. Our attention wanders from one possibility to the next without a clear picture of what we intend to create. This is similar to having our attention snagged by the past, because we are trading this present moment for it. Instead of being acutely aware of the treasure of here and now, it is squandered on fuzzy meanderings of there and then.

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring which you have not; but remember that what you have now was once among the things you only hoped for.” – Epicurus (341?-270 BC)

“It is always wise to stop wishing for things long enough to enjoy the fragrance of those now flowering.” – Patrice Gifford

Now is the Time . . . Always

Since all we ever have is here and now, it makes sense to develop the discipline and resolve to stay here as often as possible and make the most of it. Here and now is when all things happen, so don’t miss it by allowing your attention to wander.

“On the surface it seems that the present moment is only one of many, many moments. Each day of your life appears to consist of thousands or moments where different things happen. Yet if you look more deeply, is there not only one moment, ever? Is life not ever not ‘this moment?’” – Eckhart Tolle (from the book, “Stillness Speaks.”)

“No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find
The best of now and here.”
- John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-92)

Appreciation Helps Focus the Attention

When you are actively appreciating something, it is not happening in the past or in the future. The act of appreciation can happen only right now, in this present moment. So, whenever you are engaged in appreciating something, your consciousness is anchored to the here and now.

When you are appreciating something that happened in the past, your attention is right here and now. Even when you are anticipating the aspects of some mental picture you are in the process of manifesting, the act of appreciation fixes your attention to this present moment.

Now you are using your powerful mental tools intelligently, efficiently and deliberately. You are molding your future experience to your liking by the outpouring of appreciation in this present moment.

Here are a few more poignant quotes related to here and now:

“Eternity has nothing to do with the hereafter… This is it… If you don’t get it here, you won’t get it anywhere. The experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life. Heaven is not the place to have the experience; here’s the place to have the experience.” – Joseph Campbell (1904-87)

“It is eternity now. I am in the midst of it. It is about me and the sunshine.” – Richard Jefferies

“A great NOW will be a great WAS! A bad NOW will always be a bad WAS, and all you can hope for is a great GONNA BE!” – Sid Ceaser

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.” – Gilda Radner

“Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now–always.” – Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)

“What we do today, right now, will have an accumulated effect on all our tomorrows.” – Alexandra Stoddard

“We cannot put off living until we are ready. The most salient characteristic of life is its coerciveness: it is always urgent, ‘here and now,’ without any possible postponement. Life is fired at us point-blank.” – Jose Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955)

“Most people confuse the Now with what happens in the Now, but that’s not what it is. The Now is deeper than what happens in it. It is the space in which it happens. So do not confuse the content of this moment with the Now. The Now is deeper than any content that arises in it.” – Eckhart Tolle (from the book, “Stillness Speaks.”)

“Your innermost sense of I Am has nothing to do with what happens in your life, nothing to do with content. That sense of I Am is one with the Now. It always remains the same. In childhood and old age, in health and sickness, in success and failure, the I Am – the space of Now – remains unchanged at its deepest level. It usually gets confused with content, and so you experience I Am or the Now only faintly and indirectly, through the content of your life. In other words: your sense of Being becomes obscured by circumstances, your stream of thinking, and the many things of this world. The Now becomes obscured by time . . . I am not my thoughts, emotions, sense perceptions, and experiences. I am not the content of my life. I am Life. I am the space in which all things happen. I am consciousness. I am the Now. I Am.” – Eckhart Tolle (from the book, “Stillness Speaks.”)

In closing, here are a couple of my favorite quotes. They are also the shortest. Each of them contain only three words, and both express profound wisdom on how to live happily, right here and right now:

“Be here now.” – Baba Ram Das
“Follow your bliss.” – Joseph Campbell

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Listen FREE to the song samples below . . . chosen to enhance the ideas in this article.

Trash Our Treasures People seem to have a history of awarding seemingly insignificant details with places of prominence in our lives, while ignoring or even destroying the most important aspects. http://www.somemusicmatters.com/DescX.html#Anchor2 This Perfect Moment The moment of marriage shines bright with love, hope and unlimited potential. What a blessing it is to somehow capture that magical moment and be able to relive it at will throughout a lifetime. http://www.somemusicmatters.com/DescX.html#Anchor6 It’ll Be All Right Now It’s one thing to understand intellectually that the thoughts we think mold our experience, and another thing to live every moment as if it really is a basic law of nature. http://www.somemusicmatters.com/DescX.html#Anchor10 Who is the Watcher Explores the silent witness within and the idea that life occurs in this present moment. Always. http://www.somemusicmatters.com/DescX.html#Anchor-14 A Heartbeat in Eternity’s Highway In the grand scheme of things, what’s the difference between a single moment and all of eternity? What’s the point of reference? http://www.somemusicmatters.com/DescX.html#Anchor17 Time of Our Lives Time is so fleeting, so elusive, it’s good to remember the importance and power of living right now. http://www.somemusicmatters.com/DescHere.html#Anchor7 Takin’ My Time It’s easy to simply give away so much of your time that there’s none left for you. http://www.somemusicmatters.com/DescHere.html#Anchor15 Same Olde Time Time – it’s so relative. "What if distant starlight shining in the endless sky is just the same, by a different name, as the twinkle in your eye?" http://www.somemusicmatters.com/DescHB.html#Anchor7 You Gotta Have Fun Our moments are fleeting . . . and finite. Too few to squander on "bad news". We must steer our attention deliberately in order to attract the kind of life we were born to live. http://www.somemusicmatters.com/DescAnth.html#Anchor20 Songs by Tupelo
	Being Present through Sensuality The idea is to occasionally turn off the senses in order to better tune into the aliveness that lies beyond them. The realization that there is something beyond the world of the five senses can provide an “aha” experience, especially at first. With the senses turned off (or even turned down), there remains a vibrant sense of aliveness – the world of feeling and the realm of being. Six Killers of Individuality and Personal Independence Is the course of your life determined by your own internal road map or by a map made by someone else? Each of us can choose our direction deliberately and live a life custom sculpted. Each life can be as individually unique as the person living it. If you pattern your life after someone else, exactly what is it you have to offer? Gratitude for Home and Family Home and family is literally the center of our universe, but how often do we take it for granted? Celebrate life through gratitude for our sense of home and the people we share it with. Articles by Tupelo