I’ve been listening to some CDs of Eckhart Tolle, one of the foremost teachers on the subject of coming into the present moment.  In one particular CD, called “Living a Life of Inner Peace”, available through www.soundstrue.com, Tolle talks about how one of the things that has always existed and always will throughout all time is the present moment.  From the time we are born until we die, we are in the present moment, period.  Tolle also talks about “psychological time” – those states of mind where we either think about the past or worry about, plan, or ponder the future – those times when we’ve left the present moment.

Revisiting these ideas on the CD got me to thinking about how settling it is to drop back into the experience of “right here, right now”, and out of psychological time.  Most of us are completely conditioned to be focused either on something we did or something we’re going to do, and lose the richness of being in the present, experiencing what actually is happening in this moment.

I was recently at an acupuncture appointment and was quite relaxed, staying with the experience as it unfolded.  Then, when the acupuncturist left me alone for awhile, my mind drifted to something I needed to do.  Immediately, I lifted out of the relaxation into thought and caught myself tensing, rather than dropping even further into relaxation.  By bringing myself back to the sensations in my body in the present moment, and drifting with the music, I was able to let go of planning and re-enter the present moment, finding a deep level of ease and rest.  This kind of experience offers an immediate feedback loop of what we create when we get caught in psychological time, drawing ourselves away from what’s happening in this moment.

For this week’s experiment, I invite you to play with noticing when you’re in the present moment and when you’ve dropped into psychological time.  Remember, there’s nothing right or wrong with either experience.  The reason to play with this is to notice how it feels when you’re actually here, living your life as it unfolds in the present, and how it feels when you’re focused in the past or future.  Also, it’s an impacting exercise to develop the capacity to notice when you’ve left the present moment and to have the option to return to it if you want to - and, then, to discover how it feels when you drop back into your experience of being right here, right now.

You might ask what happens when the present moment is decidedly unpleasant, and why would you want to drop into it.   This is a valid question I’ve heard from any number of people, and my answer goes in the direction of saying that the present moment really is the only one we’ve got and at least when we’re in it we have a better chance of dealing with it more effectively than we can if we’re trying to get away from it.