Every time I hear Jimmy Buffett sing "I Love the
Now" I remember that I always live in choice. I, like everyone else, have the perpetual opportunity to
live in this present moment, this right now, or to live in the past and operate
as though the experience I am in the middle of right this minute is exactly the
same as something that happened before.
Its easy to relive a memory and say "this is the same as that"
because our minds like to pigeonhole events, circumstances and
occurrences. It's easy to do
that. Some would say it is even
natural and appropriate. If you are
trying to avoid getting eaten by a saber-toothed tiger, or stomped by a Brontosaurus,
it makes some sense to remember how one set of circumstances seems very similar
to a previous set of circumstances.
In fact, even subconsciously translating or projecting from someone
else's story might save your life if you are operating in survival mode.
Our bodies react to our memories exactly as though they
are actual real-in-the-moment events.
In a recent Spiritual Thought from our Sunday Celebration Services, Ernest Holmes (from A New Design for Living, p. 130) says
"In whatever aspect of living we desire a betterment - be it in respect to
health, abundance, or happiness - we have to know that it is ours now. We establish the pattern now, we accept
what it is now, we know that it is our experience now. There is no difference between thought
and thing. There is no time
element in Mind, nor need there be in out mind. Whatever good we desire must be accepted as the present
reality of our experience. Only
now can it exist."
If I create a fear situation in my mind, my body acts
fearful, releasing adrenaline and cortisol, and my body gets ready to fight,
flee or freeze. Basic physiology
again. The bad news, according to
the physicians and psychologists who study such things is that this internalized
fear state, which may have been created by something completely imaginary, causes
an internal physical-chemical stress on the body, and has a long lag time
before the body can even begin to come back to its own balance, equilibrium and
well being.
What if "this is not that"? What if this apparently threatening
situation isn't really inherently threatening? What if the Universe is predominantly a safe place and that
all the events in my present experience can be viewed from a positive and supportive
perspective? This doesn't mean I'm
going to be stupid and step out in front of a bus to see what happens, but it
can mean that I don't automatically interpret a conversation, and impression,
or a look as antagonistic from the start.
