LIFE IN THE NOW. What shifts?

Enlightenment Challenge #1:

If we are alive, right now, 

HOW 

to make this more real and vivid.

NOW

This is either easy or hard.

It’s easy if you “just do it.”

It’s hard if you think you are wasting time, by slowing down your attention to actually be present.

And in a way… this is THE most important thing a human being can do.

Shift to the present.

Not later.

Right now.

Really ….RIGHT NOW.

THIS MOMENT COUNTS.

THIS IS NOT A REHEARSAL. 

THIS BOOK IS NOT ABOUT “WAKING UP” LATER.

The delight of being present is that you never have to “wait around” for any other conditions.

You don’t need a being present uniform.

You don’t need to go to a being present gym.

You don’t need to be in a being present mood.

You don’t need being present health.

Or being present amounts of money.

There is an admission charge, and it is not money. It’s attention.

Believe me, or not, but discover for yourself: there is something in you, somewhat like a robot, that very much wants you to stay asleep to the present moment.

And this is the challenge for you: wake to the present and feel yourself as you really are. Alive.

Let’s have three layers to the Enlightenment Challenge

Layer One:

Feel yourself alive by noticing;

BREATHING

And by noticing 

GRAVITY

This alone can shift your life.

No breathing, no life. Noticing your breathing >>> knowing you are alive.

Right now, follow your breathing. This wonderful activity has been going on since you were born. We rarely notice it.

Notice your breathing.

What happens when you notice your breathing?

And notice gravity.

You are standing and your feet are pressing down into something.

You are laying down and your entire back, side or front is pressing into something.

Most likely…

You are sitting and your butt is pressing into a chair or bench or something.

Feel the pressure down.

Feel the pressure up.

Your feet are pressing into something. Most of gravity and you are interacting through your pelvis, but the feet have a small percentage. Feel it.

Now.

Feel the pressure down.

Feel the pressure up.

Unless we are in outer space, gravity, like air and breathing, is a constant of our life on Earth. A constant since the day we left the balancing waters of the womb and came out into the world of up and down. 

Feel these two, as anchors into the NOW>>>>

BREATHING.

GRAVITY.

What shifts for you when you notice this?

Layer Two of the First Enlightenment Challenge.

Sense your entire right leg.

Sense your entire right arm.

Sense your entire left arm.

Sense your entire left leg.

Add in, all of your toes.

Add, in, all of your fingers.

This is a lot.

And this is our lot in life: we can move and we have legs to walk on and hands and arms to hug or build or eat food or write books or put on clothes, or take off clothes, or to garden, or create food, or paint, or sculpt, or make love.

Arms and fingers.

Legs and toes.

This is in addition to breathing.

See if, one limb at a time, you can breathe into:

Your right leg and toes.

Your right arm and fingers.

Your left arm and fingers.

Your left leg and toes.

Breathe and notice all your limbs and notice their connection to gravity.

If your legs are crossed, one will be pressing down against another.

One or two feet will be pressing into the floor or ground.

Your arms each have weight and will have their own connection to gravity.

This is a lot.

This is you, in the midst of the miracle:

Two arms and a bunch of fingers.

Two legs and a bunch of toes.

Gravity.

Breath.

What happens when you bring, RIGHT NOW, your attention into this presence of your body and your breathing and your connection to gravity.

Brief time out for the second radically important question:

What shifts for you, when you bring your attention to being present?

To repeat::::

What shifts, for you, when you bring your attention to being present?

We are alive.

Right now.

This is not true of our chair.

Of the buildings around us.

We can know we are alive.

Right now.

Maybe animals can.

Maybe plants can. We don’t know if they can shift into awareness of being alive.

We can. Humans can.

We can know the special human KNOWING OF BEING ALIVE, RIGHT NOW.

And something shifts when we “wake up” to that knowing.

My idea for you, perhaps even my gift for you, is this:

Don’t be present because it’s something you think/ believe you “should” do.

Be present because it creates a shift.

That you notice.

And you like.

So ask yourself often this central question to a real life :

WHAT SHIFTS WHEN I SHIFT INTO BEING PRESENT?