Here’s Why Living In The Moment-To-Moment Experience Is So Powerful In Unlocking A Life Of Peace
Each moment is an infinite chance to choose
Hello friend! 👋
As we are nearing the end of the Mental Health Awareness Month, I thought it may be helpful to talk about a powerful technique that can bring you peace (and is thousands -yes with an s- years old).
Being in the present moment experience.
This technique is a core practice of Buddhism, but is universal to all human beings of any background or religion.
So be sure not to isolate yourself from its benefits.
Let’s dive straight in!
🎁 New moment new chance
Time is a complex phenomenon!
We invented physical time to make sense of our lived experience.
To track progress, store information, build a mental map of the past and the future, etc…
While physical time is extremely useful in planning, psychological time can cause much harm.
Eckhart Tolle writes about this in his phenomenal book “The Power of Now”, where he explains what each of these two times represent:
Physical time is the clock time we are used to and measure, it is made of seconds and we know exactly how long each is.
Psychological time on the other hand happens in the mind, and is usually a present-lived experience related to a future that hasn’t happened (worry) or past that is already gone (rumination).
When thinking of time in a moment-to-moment experience you take yourself out of the psychological time.
When a new moment arrives (scientists say it is around 2-3 seconds), a new experience can be possible.
Which brings me to the next topic.
💪 New moment new choice
This one is tricky, yet simple and super powerful.
We all know everything we do is our choice..
Ultimately, it is your choice to continue to go to work even if you don’t want to.
It is your choice to live with a certain standard of living that forces you to do that work.
It is also your choice to get offended when someone tells you something you don’t find respectful.
But most of these can seem pretty automatic, and it can seem that you actually don’t have a choice.
As the great Viktor Frankl put it:
“All freedom can be taken from a human but one thing, the last of the human freedoms; the ability to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances”
This is a man who realized such truth not in his high castle and lavish life, but by being in the midst of the depths of concentration camps’ torture, losing his entire family in the process.
It is a powerful truth, but one that requires effort to recognize and utilize.
The best way to activate it is to chop the experience in tiny moments.
Each moment being a new opportunity to make a turn in a different direction.
A turn in line with what your values speak to you.
♾️ Infinite loop
This may sound too theoretical, but really all we have is the present moment.
All the future is made of future present moments that are yet to happen.
All the past is made of past present moments that have happened already.
Both the future AND the past can only be accessed in the now.
So the reality is we live in a continuous moment-to-moment present experience.
Only by recognizing this reality are we able to escape the tyranny of future worry or past rumination.
This is what Tolle referred to as psychological time.
It only exists in our heads, while the physical world runs in the continuous present moment.
If you’re able to slow down to realize this, and CHOOSE to live in alignment with that, then you too can experience this infinite present moment.
Everlasting, continuously renewable, and - most importantly - impermanent.
Experiencing pain? Impermanent.
Experiencing joy? Also impermanent.
Once we decide to use our wisdom and embrace the reality above, we are able to unlock a life of peace and non-attachment.
And
Where there is no attachment, there is no craving, and so there is no suffering.
That is all for this week.
I hope this helps you appreciate your present experience with yourself and your loved ones so you can bring your absolute best, moment-to-moment.
It is always your choice.
Have a Super Sunday! 💪
With much joy,
Hashim
Whenever you’re ready, here are 2 more ways I can help you:
Awareness Strengthening via Mindfulness Workshop: Sign up to the upcoming FREE 90-min workshop, to explore the science-backed benefits of mindfulness. The last one filled up in 2 days!
1:1 Coaching: Book a free 30-min Coaching Discovery Call to explore the value of getting scientifically-proven Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology frameworks that are tailored to your own journey to reach your goals. Let’s grow together! 💪
I love how you differentiated between the physical time and psychological time. Mindfulness is key to master how to be in charge of our psychological time rather than being stuck in the past or future! That's why I enrolled in your becomeSuper challenge (STARTING TODAY!!) to learn this skill and be more present