Dear Reader,
Our mind is so powerful.
In a split second, it can picture the most beautiful, exciting, and fulling experiences you can imagine – love, joy or impossible things, like flying to the sun, traveling back to the age of dinosaurs, or journeying to Mars.
Next second, it can picture the most painful and horrendous experiences too.
Yet, in the now, none of it is reality and none of it exists.
I've read and heard quite a bit about being present and ways to do and view it. Here are a few examples:
80% of the time we think about the future or the past; yesterday, tomorrow, this morning, next weekend. If we always do that, our minds are never in the now. We never truly live the life we are experiencing—only the ones we are imagining.
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In the present there is nothing and we need absolutely nothing, it feels amazing and liberating. Think about it: What do you really need now? In that second? In this very moment? Nothing.
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Immersing yourself in the present makes everything go by more slowly. In a way, you actually gain time.
When you try it out, you will most likely feel bored. Our brains always want to be entertained and likes being entertained. Just resting and not thinking about things not in our reach right now, is impossible without training. But the benefit of being present and aligned with yourself really is prolonging life.
In the sauna for example, every minute can feel very long if you don't distract yourself by thinking about something or talking to people, but in that stillness, it’s as if life itself has expanded and the day is just longer.
That's how being present makes life go by more slowly. Giving you much more time in which you FEEL life. It's beautiful.
Additionally, being present in the sauna—thinking about nothing—relaxed me completely, unlike when my mind is running hundreds of errands at once.
Who doesn't want more time and relax deeply?
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Lately, I’ve been listening to the monk Shi Heng Yi, and he said something that made being present and mindful feel easier. It evoked a shift in my thinking, showing me that being present is the only logical way to be—and that it’s almost absurd not to.
He emphasises the importance of fully being aligned with yourself.
Having your thoughts, feelings, and mind aligned with your body. I imagine one line: head — thoughts — body — belly button.
I want this to be one line as often as I can.
Not my head on Mars wondering who'd spend Billions to travel there, next second in the UK, because I miss it so much, while my body is actually here in Germany, on my chair, writing or eating.
Now I often ask myself: What is my body doing? Is my mind in the same place? Or I act like an observer and check in which state my body's at and remind myself that my mind is supposed to be there as well.
Now I often ask myself: What is my body doing? Is my mind in the same place? Sometimes I take the role of an observer, checking in on my body and reminding myself to bring my mind there as well.
Your body’s here. Make sure your mind is too.
With love from my mum's couch,
Linh
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