How Does “Be Here Now” Connect You to Mindfulness?
The only time that’s real, where you have any control at all, is now.
Right now, this moment, is the only place in time that’s actually, factually, real. The past has come and gone. The future is yet to unfold. Only the now is real. Only this moment can be lived and experienced consciously.
Lots of people try to go back to the past. They want to return to a time that they remember. Of course, their memory of that time is thoroughly imperfect. Often, how you remember the past being includes your biases and prejudices, and frequently, it’s not at all how you remember it.
More than that, the past cannot be changed. You can’t undo it, redo it, do it over, or in any other way alter it. It’s done, over, and unchangeable.
On the other side there’s the future. You can plan, plot, idealize, strive for, and do all kinds of things to find and/or build a future. However, there are also an almost infinite number of uncertainties that can and will alter the future from your vision of it. Some of these are great, some not at all. You cannot know the future, and while you can (and in many ways should) set goals and do things where the results will occur in the future, you won’t know it until you arrive at it.
Here and now? This moment, as you observe both the world outside of you and your inner being, you can know. It’s right here, right now, ready for you to be within it.
That’s where “be here now” connects you to mindfulness.
To “be here now” connects you to mindfulness and vice versa
The following questions can only be asked and genuinely answered here and now:
- What am I thinking?
- What am I feeling?
- How am I feeling?
- What are my intentions?
- Is my approach toward the positive or negative?
- What am I doing or not doing?
Each of these can only be answered right now. They’re questions of and about the now, this moment in time. What’s more, you and you alone can answer them.
While impressions of past events include partial answers to the above questions, they’re not genuine or necessarily true. Memory is a strange thing. Two people can experience an event together and have utterly different recollections of it. One might have nearly no impression, while the other was deeply moved. You can’t know how and where precisely you were then, just impressions of the idea remain.
Similarly, the future can’t be known in much the same way. That’s because there are so many uncertain possibilities, that the outcome is never a foregone conclusion. Things can and will happen between now and then utterly, completely, and totally outside of your control.
Now, right now, is the only time you can do anything with or about. As limiting as that might seem, it’s actually incredibly empowering. That’s because you can make choices and decisions, right now, to act toward your good, and with your good greater good.
This is where mindfulness comes into play. Mindfulness is active conscious awareness, It’s the yin to “be here now’s” yang. They are intertwined, one the idea, the other the action to set the idea in motion.
Neither is static nor still. Both are in constant motion. Motion you can choose and decide to control.
Mindfulness in motion
When you choose to be here now, and ask mindful questions to become aware of who, what, where, how, and why you are, you energize the ability to make any changes or alterations desired.
If life isn’t how you desire it to be, mindfulness and the active conscious awareness that generates it informs you. It’s not about who you were or who you could be, but who you are.
When you know who you are, here and now, you can use that awareness to make choices and decisions. That’s the key to changing anything at all about your life.
However, it’s super important to recognize that now, this moment, is not entirely still. Life is in a constant state of motion. The world is turning, the sun rises and sets, winds blow and cease, and so on. Recognizing this opens the way to further alter your choices and decisions regularly.
To some, this idea is exhausting. I have to be here now, constantly? The reality, however, isn’t an endless cycle of constant, ongoing unknown. It’s the power to control your life experience. And as such, rather than I have to be here now, you can choose I get to be here now.
The empowerment of this is so much greater than you realize. You are the only you that is or ever will be. Only you are in your head, heart, and soul. That’s not a lonely or sad thing, it’s a powerful, empowering thing. You know what makes you tick, brings you joy, makes you feel good. Thus, you can choose things both tangible and intangible to work with that.
Choices and decisions when you be here now
Because of this constant motion of mindfulness – hell, of everything, really – no situation is so staid or stuck that it will never, ever change. It can, it will, and it does.
So, too, do you. Change is not the enemy, it’s just the unknown. When you’re mindful, and you be here now to use mindfulness, you can direct, choose, and decide what your life experience will look like.
When you are present, here and now, you are at full power. You’re consciously living, not letting subconscious rote, routine, or habit drive your life. The empowerment of this is beyond measure. I can’t emphasize enough just how much this opens your life to greater potential and possibilities.
No, it’s not an instant switch. It requires constant, ongoing work. If you don’t ask questions in the moment to be mindful, you will lose sight of yourself. However, from time to time, living by rote, routine, and habit is a respite that gets you by just fine. Know, however, it can and very well might lead to some distress and discontent.
When you actively make choices and decisions, here and now, you take charge of your life experience. This is the equivalent of a superpower, and it can make your life experience yours to control. Because the only thing you can control is your thoughts, feelings, actions, intentions, and approaches.
That’s not a limitation, It’s everything. You are so much more amazing and powerful than you realize. When you be here now and practice mindfulness, you will see this for yourself.
Will you be here now, at this moment, and make choices and decisions for your life experience based on that? Can you see how “be here now” connects you to mindfulness for that?
This is the six-hundred and forty-seventh (647) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.
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