The True Nature of the Past and the Future

As humans, we have a tendency to refer to our lives in terms of the past and the future. We think and talk constantly about what has already happened and what we have done, and what we expect to happen and plan on doing at a later date.

In reality, there is no past and there is no future, except as they exist as concepts that we express. It is true that we experience our lives as if in a sequence of time. There is no doubt that at one time we were younger than we are now, and that we will eventually become older than we are now. It is also true that we experienced events yesterday that we have a memory of, and that we will experience events tomorrow that we can anticipate today.

In purely experiential terms, however, we cannot experience the past or the future, except in the form of concepts that we express in This Present Moment about a remembered past or an envisioned future.

In other words, we can, and often do, think about experiences that we have already had (which we label the "past") and experiences we will potentially have at a later date (which we label the "future").

However, like all experiences, this way of experiencing the "past" or the "future" can only ever occur--as an expression of thought--in This Present Moment.

In fact, there is only One Moment of Experience: This Present Moment. There is only This One Moment of Experience, but it is a Present Moment Experience that is in a constant state of ongoing change.

If we can accept that fact that our lives only ever occur in This Present Moment, our One Moment of Experience, why is it then that we spend so much time immersed in thoughts about the "past" and the "future" if in fact they do not exist except as concepts we create in This Present Moment?

We do this because as humans, we have a natural tendancy to reflect on events that have just occured (the "past") and anticipate, plan for, and worry about events that we have some expectation of occurring (the "future").

There is nothing inherently wrong with doing this. In fact, reflecting on the past is one way that we learn and adjust our actions into more effective behaviors. Likewise, anticipating future events can help us to prepare for them.

However, when we obsess over past events and worry endlessly about imagined future outcomes, and allow such obsession and worry to negatively impact us, these are destructive ways of using our Moment of Experience that inhibit our ability to experience clarity and well-being here and now.

It is very easy to become absorbed in thoughts about the past and the future, to the extent that we often allow our attention to be drawn away from our actual, direct experience of This Present Moment as it is actually occurring, and instead enter into a purely mind-based experience in which we become absorbed in our chaotic and often warped narrations about our past experiences or wild, random, and often wholly inaccurate speculations about the future.

We can and often do become so absorbed in these purely mind-based experiences about the past and the future that our minds can (and often do!) actually trick us into believing that these thoughts about the past and the future are what is actually taking place in our lives right here and right now. So much so that we can (and often do!) have intense emotional reactions to these purely thought-based experiences independently of what is actually taking place in our Present

Moment reality.

In reality, what is actually occurring in our lives in This Present Moment is invariably much more simple, direct, and manageable than the violent currents of thought that swallow our attention.

When the mind-based experiences in which we become absorbed are of the negative variety, that is, when we think about our past or future in unfavorable terms, our "past" and "future" can actually affect our Present Moment Experience in a negative manner, so that our experience of This Moment becomes unpleasant purely based on the way in which we are thinking, rather than anything that is actually occurring in our immediate environment.

For this reason, whether our thoughts be positive or negative, it is essential that we are able to differentiate between the actual experience of events that is occurring in this present moment, and the purely conceptual, mind-based experiences of the "past" and the "future," which we now know are simply the present moment experience of expressing thoughts about past events and potential future events.

Once we become aware of the fact that the "past" and the "future" only exist as thoughts that we express in This Present Moment, we need never again allow ourselves to be helplessly affected by the events of our past or concerns about our future.

Since we now know that the past and the future are simply thoughts that we express in This Present Moment, whenever we feel adversely affected by the "past" or the "future," we can simply replace our destructive thoughts with constructive ones. Even better, we can simply draw our attention out of the confusing realm of pure thought, and focus it back on the simple present moment reality that is unfolding right before our eyes.

In other words, our thoughts of the past and the future are only "real" insofar as we give them credit for being real. We always have the option of changing them, or simply dismissing them and bringing our attention back into This Present Moment.

This ability to recognize the true nature of the "past" and the "future" and maintain an accurate perspective of them can greatly enhance our ability to experience well-being in This Present Moment, which, again, we now recognize and embrace as our One True Moment of Experience.

The Force of Habit

There is an unseen force that significantly influences the way in which we experience our lives. This force is the Force of Habit. 

Living organisms are, in general, creatures of habit, and human beings are no exception. 

Our habits are learned behaviors, and most of our habits are developed in our younger years. As we age, these habits become ever more deeply ingrained, and as time goes by it becomes increasingly more difficult to veer from our established routine of habits. 

Our habits encompass the way we eat, the way we talk, the clothes we wear, our level of physical activity, the amount of money we earn and the level of affluence we enjoy, and perhaps most importantly, the way we think. 

Our most deeply ingrained habits are called Lifetime Habits, because they truly are habits of a lifetime that keep our routines of thought and action locked into place throughout the duration of our lives. 

Once our habits are established, we actually don't need to exert any effort to keep them in motion. For instance, even the habit of exercise does not require an effort in the true sense. If we are in the habit of exercising, although exercise by nature requires physical exertion to perform, it is something that we will naturally be inclined to do.

Effort here refers to an exertion of will to act in a way that is contrary to an established habit. Because the force of habit is so strong, it takes a very strong effort and act of will to overcome it. The effort required is akin to the effort needed to swim continuously upstream against a powerful river current. 

Habits are neutral. That is, they are only good or bad insofar as they either enhance the quality of our lives or detract from the quality of our lives. It is possible that a habit that formerly enhanced our lives may exhaust its usefulness and become a habit that would best be eliminated. 

For example, practicing a particular career is one such habit. We establish the habit of doing the work we do. If we continue to enjoy our work and prosper from it, it remains a beneficial habit. But there may be cases where our work which formerly brought us satisfaction no longer does. Or perhaps due to the changing of times, work that we established the habit of performing 10 or 20 years ago is no longer relevant in today's world. 

In such a case, we may find that we need to establish new habits to replace our old ones. It is important to note that in order to eliminate an old habit, it must be replaced by a new habit. All habits can be parred down to two basic forms: the habit of doing (action) and the habit of not doing (inaction). 

Regardless of the specific habit in question, any habit is either a habit of something that we do, or something that we do not do. For example, we may realize that we need to establish the habit of exercising. Currently, we are in the habit of not (doing) exercising. In other words, we are in the habit of inaction as it relates to exercise. In order to establish the habit of exercising, we need to overcome the inertia of inaction and replace it with the habit of action. 

In contrast, we may be in the habit of smoking and realize that we need to quit. We need to replace the habit of (doing) smoking with the habit of (not doing) smoking. In other words, we need to exercise our will and acutually make an effort to not do this action. That is, we need to establish the habit of inaction as it relates to smoking.  

Whether we are working on establishing a habit of action (doing) or a habit of inaction (not doing), the creation of any new habit requires an initial exertion of Effort with the focused intention of performing (or not performing) the new behavior.

When we first attempt to establish a new habit, we invariably encounter resistance. This is simply a function of the Force of Habit attempting to do its job properly. However, if we truly want to establish a new habit, then we needto act, or refrain from acting, even in spite of such resistance, and persist in doing so until our desired new habit has been established. 

By remaining intent on establishing our new action and sustaining our effort in the face of the Resistance, eventually the Resistance will give way and the Force of Habit will take over the new behavior we have established, so that this behavior becomes our new, more desirable habit. 

How long it takes to create a new habit and replace it with an old one depends on a number of factors. The first factor is the extent to which the habit is ingrained. Lifetime Habits are the most deeply ingrained, and therefore the most difficult to replace. 

The second factor is the level of motivation, or intent, to establish a new habit in place of a new one. For example, if you have smoked three packs of cigarettes a day for 20 years, your habit of smoking will be very deeply ingrained. It is a Lifetime Habit that under ordinary circumstances may be difficult to break. Maybe you've tried to quit smoking many times and were unable to. 

However, if you go to the doctor and are told that if you don't quit you're going to die within the next six months and will never see your friends and family again, this may be sufficient motivation to immediately quit smoking, regardless of how much Resistance you encounter. 

Once again, habits are not good or bad, except to the extent that they either support or detract from the quality of one's life experience. The important thing to realize is that the Force of Habit exists as a force that strongly affects the way in which we experience our lives. 

Recognizing the existence of the Force of Habit can help us understand the source of Resistance we inevitably encounter when we attempt to change well-established behaviors in our lives. At the same time, it is important to know that the Force of Habit can equally work for us when we use it to replace non-useful, life-detracting patterns of behavior with more effective, life-enhancing behaviors.

The Power of Appreciation

We all want to be happy. We all desire affluence. The best way to experience happiness and wealth immediately is to Appreciate all that you have and all that you are right here and right now. 

All too often, we tend to believe that we lack certain aspects of our lives that keep us from being as happy as we could be. We feel like we need a better car, a better house, a better job, or more money. In fact, we are conditioned to believe that we should always want something more than what we have. 

What we are not conditioned to do, is to simply Appreciate that which we already DO have. The simple act of Appreciating enables us to become aware that we are in fact already much wealthier than we habitually believe. 

If we take stock of our lives in terms of This Present Moment, which is the One Moment of Experience, and take a detailed inventory of what we DO have, we find that we are in fact already quite wealthy. 

In terms of This Present Moment, we find that we already have an abundance of food, clothing, shelter, and cash that we need, at least for This Moment! We may not have enough of a stock of these things to last us an entire lifetime, but unless we are in very extreme circumstances, we can usually accept that we DO in fact have more than enough for This Moment. And because This Present Moment is the One and Only Moment of Experience, this means that we Do in fact have all that we need right here and right now. 

We can go beyond these basic needs and appreciate the friends we have, the family we have, all of the experiences we have had, our health, the air that we breathe, and at its essence, we can can simply appreciate the fact that we are alive, and that we have the opportunity to live and enjoy and experience this life. 

The act of Appreciation is one of the most powerful and effective ways of exercising our Personal Power. When we truly appreciate all that we are and all that we have right here and right now, we shift from a mindset of focusing on what we are lacking, to an awareness of what we already have. This enables us to enjoy and Appreciate life as it is right here and right now. 

Since This Present Moment is our One Moment of Experience, and we can therefore only ever experience well-being right here and right now, appreciating is precisely what we need to do in order to experience wealth and happiness. 

Learn to Appreciate all that you have and all that you are right here and right now, and you will never feel like you lack anything. It is possible to feel happy and fulfilled right here and right now, simply by Appreciating all that you have and all that you are, right here and right now. 

One other benefit of the act of Appreciation is simply that what we focus on expands. When we focus on what we lack, we are in effect supporting the continuation of the experience of lacking. Conversely, when we focus on (appreciate) what we already have, we not only receive the immediate benefit of recognizing the ways in which we are already blessed and already wealthy, but we actually support the continuation of experiencing even more of what we have. 

For some, this seems counter-intuitive. You might think that if you appreciate what you have right now, that is the same as being satisfied with your lot in life as it is right now, when in fact you really DO want more. This leads you to focus on what you don't have, instead of appreciating what you do have. 

The problem is that even though this approach seems logical, it is not effective in producing what you do want. Focusing on what you do not have, and failing to appreciate what you Do have, will only keep the same conditions in tact. 

Another way to view this matter is to ask yourself: at what point is enough, enough? Even if you do succeed in accumulating the things you want and creating the precise circumstances in life you desire, will you have the capacity to actually appreciate them then? 

Maybe, but in either case, the ability to Appreciate provides you with the capacity to gain maximum enjoyment of what you DO have right here and right now. 

And once again, because This Present Moment is the One Moment of Experience, Right Here and Right Now is the only place and time that we can ever experience anything. 

Thus, we either have the capacity to Appreciate our lives, as they are, right here and right now, or we do not. Which approach is better? Which is more empowering? Which better enables us to experience well-being? 

The answer is pretty obvious. 

The Ultimate Purpose of Life

The Purpose of Life is very simple, and it is the same for all people. The Purpose of Life is simply to experience it.

Our lives are perfect and complete exactly as they are. Even the things we perceive as imperfect and incomplete, are actually part of our perfect and complete lives. 

Each of us is born into this earth as a unique human being with a unique set of challenges and circumstances. These are the exact challenges and circumstances that we need in order to have the precise experience we desire to have on this earth. 

Many of us have a tendency to compare our lives to those of our friends, peers, neighbors, celebrities on TV, and so forth. Often it seems as though the lives of others are more interesting or in some way better than our own. 

However, this is a mistaken view that can distract us from being attentive to our own lives. When we waste our energy being dissatisfied with our own life or envious of the lives of others, this significantly depletes our Personal Power. 

In fact, our Personal Power comes not from wishing that we were living someone else's life, but from fully embracing the challenges of our own. Personal Power, and therefore happiness, is simply not possible until we learn to fully appreciate our own lives, exactly as they are Here and Now. 

Now, for many of us, this is a difficult proposition to accept. Our lives can often seem very mundane and insignificant. We see other people doing amazing, creative things and 

living lives of greater affluence and variety than us, driving better cars and living in nicer houses. We may hate our jobs and wish we could be an athlete, or an actor, or a CEO of a cool technology company, or an adventurer, or whatever. 

Well, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that fully embracing, accepting and appreciating every aspect of our lives does not mean that we cannot change some aspect of it. In fact, we are free to do whatever we want with our lives. 

The bad news, although it is not really bad, is that we cannot actually become anybody else or assume someone else's role in life. We must change those aspects of our lives we wish to change in the context of our own lives. For instance, if we want to be an athlete, we are free to try. We may or may not have the innate talent required to be a professional athlete competing on the highest level. But no one can stop us from trying. 

The point is that we are free to do what we please with our lives. If we don't like our job, we can simply stop doing it. If we don't like a relationship we are in, we can simply get out of it. What we have done up until now does not have to dictate what we do in the future.

Even while we accept and appreciate our lives exactly as they are, this means accepting and appreciating the challenges inherent within our lives, embracing those challenges, and overcoming them. 

Ultimately though, it doesn't matter whether we are an accountant, a carpenter, an actress, a housewife, a factory worker, or a CEO. Our Purpose in Life is simply to experience the life we have been given. Now within the life we have been given, we are free to experience it however we please. This means that we are free to live our lives passively and just take life as it comes. We are likewise free to set goals and intentionally change any aspect of our lives. 

Our lives are like a day at the beach. Some people on the beach play a spirited game of volleyball. Others run for miles on the sand. Still others simply spread a blanket, lie down, and drink a beer. Our lives are our own giant sandbox, and we are free to play in it however we choose. We can painstakingly build an elegant sand castle, fight with others in the sandbox, or simply sit in it and enjoy the sensation of the sand on our feet. 

When we find ourselves feeling lost and confused and overwhelmed, wondering what we should do with our lives, the answer is simple. We can do whatever we want. Or do nothing at all. There is no wrong answer. There is simply the experience of life, in This Present Moment. This is the ultimate purpose for which we were born. 

The opportunity to live our lives is a great gift. We were given the gift of life precisely for the opportunity to simply experience it. And the highest expression of appreciation for that gift is to simply embrace it and experience every aspect of it in all of its glory and uncertainty and pain and hardship and joy and sorrow and fun and sadness and triumph and tragedy. 

These emotions are part and parcel to EVERY person's experience. And none of us who live for any length of time can avoid experiencing ALL of these emotions. In fact, far from avoiding these emotions, the precise reason we are here is to experience them. 

To simply experience it. That is the Ultimate Purpose of Life. 

The Moment of Power

This Present Moment is the One Moment of Experience. 

It is also the One Moment of Power. 

What is the Moment of Power? The Moment of Power is the One Moment in which we have the power to influence the quality of our lives in any way, shape or form. 

All too often, we tend to project the point at which we will be happy and fulfilled at some vague, undefined point in the future. We tend to set up the game so that once we have fulfilled a certain set of conditions in our lives, only then we may be happy. 

In fact, the future that we project never arrives. And while we may fulfill the conditions we have established for happiness, it is worth keeping in mind that the conditions of life are ever changing. 

Rather than jump through a thousand hoops on a 20-year journey to reach the Holy Grail of well-being, we have the option of utilizing our One Moment of Power to achieve a perfect state of well-being right here and right now. 

This Present Moment is the One Moment of Experience. There is no other time or place that we can experience our lives other than right now. It is true that time seems to flow by. We do in fact transition from a baby to a child to a teenager to a young adult to middle-aged, into old age, and then, at some point, we do in fact die as an end to our lives on this earth in our present form. 

It is true that we can reflect back on experiences that we have had, and we can plan for future experiences. But such reflection, and such planning, can only ever occur in This Present Moment. 

However we slice and dice it, This Present Moment is the One Moment of Experience. And since Here and Now is our One Moment of Experience, it must also therefore be our One Moment of Power. 

Right Here and Right Now, This Present Moment, is the One Moment of Power. It is the one point at which we can access our Personal Power. It is the One Moment in which we can influence our lives in any way, shape, or form. 

This Present Moment is the One Moment in which we can change our thoughts, and begin to think of our lives in postive terms instead of negative terms. It is the One Moment in which we can take an action that will enhance our state of well-being. 

This Present Moment is the One Moment of Power. 

When you feel like you need to change your life, when you feel depressed, or powerless, do not long for a set of conditions that existed in the past that no longer exist today. The conditions of life are in a constant state of change!

Do not merely hope that things will get better "in the future." That "future" will never arrive! 

Instead, recognize that This Present Moment is the One Moment of Experience. And then utilize this One Moment of Experience to exercise your Personal Power to enhance your experience of well-being. The experience of well-being, or happiness, or fulfillment, like ALL experiences, can also only ever occur in This Present Moment. 

So recognize and embrace the truth that Here and Now is the One Moment of Experience. And then also recognize and embrace the idea that this One Moment of Experience is also the One Moment of Power, the one and only moment in which you may exercise your Personal Power and positively affect the quality of your life experience. 

The Moment of Experience

This present moment, here and now, is the One Moment of Experience. There is no moment in which we can possibly ever experience our lives other than right here and right now in This Moment. 

If you doubt this statement, go ahead and try to disprove it. Try to go back and re-live an experience you had last week, or yesterday, or even five minutes ago. 

Or jump ahead and try to fast forward yourself into tomorrow, today. However we slice it and dice it, there is no other time or place in which we can experience our lives other than in This Present Moment. 

Think about the truth of this statement for a moment. We may spent much of our time mulling or obsessing over past events or worrying or daydreaming about what the future may bring. But both the obsessing and mulling about the "past" and the worrying and daydreaming about the "future" are simply thoughts that we express right here and right now in This Present Moment. There is no way to access the "past" or the "future" other than through the act of thinking about the past or future in This Present Moment. 

Once we recognize and embrace the fact that This Present Moment is our One Moment of Experience, we gain immediate access to the one and only moment in which we may positively influence the outcome of our lives, whether by adopting a better attitude about our lives, forming constructive, goal-oriented thoughts about a specific outcome we would like to realize, or taking a specific action that will enhance the condition of our lives in some way. We can only ever engage in all such attitudes, thoughts, and actions in This Present Moment. 

Another way of expressing this truth is to say that This Present Moment is the one and only point in time at which we can tap into our Personal Power and influence our lives in some way. Whether we influence our lives for the better or for the worse depends upon how adept we are at exercising our Personal Power in this One Moment of Experience. Therefore, once we realize that This Present Moment is the One Moment of Experience, and therefore, our one Moment of Power, the question we need to ask ourselves is: How effectively are we, in This One Moment of Experience, utilizing our Moment of Power? 

Personal Power is simply the Power we have at our disposal as human beings to affect the condition of our lives. The two basic "power tools" we have at our disposal to do so are the capacity to express thought and the capacity to take action. 

This access to our Personal Power is not "out there somewhere" for us to search endlessly for until we find it. It can only ever be found within us right here and right now. Its location is so obvious that we can and often do look right past it, thinking it must be "somewhere else." 

We do this because we allow our attention to be distracted away from This Present Moment and into the noisy thought realm of the mind. When this happens, we exit the Realm of Clarity (which we enjoy when our attention is focused precisely on This Present Moment) and enter into the Realm of Confusion (which we fall into whenever our attention is seduced into the realm of randomly arising chaotic snippets of thoughts about the "past" and "future" that swim 

constantly within our minds).

We are also conditioned to believe that Personal Power is something that must be difficult to obtain, when in fact it is something we always have instant access to right here and right now. This is because we overlook the fact that This Present Moment is the One Moment of Experience, and instead buy into the notion that the "real us" and the solution to our lives' challenges lay "out there" somewhere.

When we ignore the Personal Power that is available for our benefit right here and right now in this One Moment of Experience in order to search for it "out there somewhere," this is akin to taking our Personal Power, sealing it in a box, burying it in the yard, and then pretending that we have no idea where it is and proceeding to search the ends of the earth for it. Or perhaps it is 

simply akin to searching all over the house for a pair of glasses that are right on our nose. 

Even if we learn to recognize our Personal Power, if we do not use it effectively we end up dissipating it by using it in ways that do not support our experience of well being. 

Therefore, we need to not only recognize that the only time and place in which we can access our Personal Power is This One Moment of Experience, and therefore, the One Moment of Power, but we also need to learn to utilize our Personal Power effectively.

Let's summarize what we have talked about so far. Since This Present Moment Here and Now is the One Moment of Experience, there is no other time and place, including the "past" and the "future" (which again really only exist as thoughts we create about something called the "past" or "future") during which we can possibily experience, and thus impact, our lives. Therefore, any experience we can possibly have, can only ever occur in This Present Moment. 

If we can only ever experience our lives in This Present Moment, it stands to reason that the only Power we have to positively influence our lives in any way, shape, or form is also in This Present Moment. Thus, our One Moment of Experience is also our One Moment of Power. 

So we can now see that this Present Moment is our One Moment of Power. Why is it essential to know and embrace this fact? Because if it is true that This Present Moment is the One Moment of Power, the one and only moment during which we can ever positively influence our lives, then it stands to reason that the key to gaining mastery over our lives is to learn to utilize our One Moment of Power to access our Personal Power and apply it in order to enhance the quality of our lives.

In other words, since here and now is our One Moment of Experience, if we can simply gain mastery over nothing other than This Moment, we effectively gain mastery of our lives.