The Power of Being Present 1/2
Have you ever felt like reality is a little “fuzzy” sometimes?
Or, have you ever driven to work one day, and almost didn’t even remember your drive?
Well chances are you weren’t present. You weren’t consciously aware of what was going on around you, and you were running on your subconscious patterns. Which can be helpful when you used properly, but for most people ->
This is not a good thing!
I’m going to reveal the answer to why, and how you can change that for yourself by the end of this post 🙂
First off, we need to figure out what “being present” means. To be aware – or present – it means that you are not “lost” in your thoughts or actions. Being “lost” simply is saying that you are not fully aware of the things happening in your mind or around you.
If you are not consciously present then how are you managing to work or even drive?
Easy. When you do something over and over again it becomes a habit. Ands habits are drilled into your subconscious – meaning – you can do them when your not consciously paying attention to them.
Like moving your arm. Its almost impossible to consciously and individually flex the muscles in your arm to move it. Thats because you’ve done it so much that you dont have to think about it anymore. Just like driving to work.
Theres a big problem with that.
If you ONLY run on subconscious patterns you can’t move forward or progress. In anything. If you are not aware of whats going on around you how can you expect to change it. And this is unfortunately how 99% of people run their lives.
I’ll explain it like this. Imagine standing in a room and your body feels like its almost on fire. Your skin is blistering, and sweat pours down your face, but you can’t tell what is it because the lights are off in the room.Its not until you “turn on the lights” you see that your standing directly beside a furnace – lol.
You have to “turn on the lights” to see the problem
Its not until you become consciously aware of your surroundings – how your acting and thinking – that you’ll see the problem. You can feel the pain, but its not until you “turn on the lights” per se that you can see the problem and change it.
I had a buddy of mine, Kam, once simply say, “Awareness creates choice”. And hes right.
I used to live with one of my buddies for a few months. He was an awesome friend of mine (still is). His name was Dan, and we lived in a house together in the city. Everything was going great! But after a while things started to turn sour between us… we’d get in fights, argue, wouldn’t hang out as much – It was painful! I ended up getting kick out… and it hurt. A LOT.
But I had no idea why.
It wasn’t until that I lived with a few other friends, about a year later that I started to see why… I hadn’t changed my behaviour from how I lived with Dan and they ended up sitting me down for a chat. They basically told me that I’m a mess. I didn’t pick up after myself, and that I needed to do more of my part around the house.
I literally had no IDEA. But in the moment a light buld lit up in my head. I had the power now. Because I was now aware of why I was causing that problem, so now I had a choice!
And that is the ultimate power!
Tomorrow i’m going to show you exactly how you can begin to become more aware and present in your day to day life! 🙂
Simple Tom 
This is so true!!!
😀
If you have not read Eckhart Tolle…you should. 😉 -Luke
Thanks buddy! I’ll definitely go chck it out 🙂
You are exactly right. We are creatures of habit and we do a lot of things without even thinking. I’ve been driving somewhere on a weekend and find myself going in the wrong direction because my mind is telling me that I’m on my way to work or I end up at my old house just after I move to a new house. It was really scary one time when they put a stop sign on a road where there had never been one and I drove through not just once, but several times!!! Talk about getting stuck in a habit. We definitely need to be consciously aware of what we are doing. Sometimes our lights are on, but nobody is home.
Haha yeah I’ve definitely don’t the same the with driving. It can be pretty annoying sometimes :p
You are so right about how important it is to be Present in your own life, Tom. Being Present also allows you to fully enjoy the small moments more – such as tasting every morsel of a delicious meal or listening to the wisdom of a 5 year old! We tend to rush through life and not appreciate the beauty and abundance around us. 🙂
Totally!! Being presents definitely allows you to see the beauty in everything and to thoroughly enjoy your experiences. Because how can you enjoy something if your consciously “not there”?
wow. as usual Tom. Your writing is such a enlightenment for me. Thank you so much for sharing.
Being present isn’t easy. But that’s the start of being better you.
if you don’t mind i would like to reblog it.
That’s buddy! I appreciate your support a lot man, it makes me smile 🙂
It’s totally worth it though!
And yeah for sure bud!
Reblogged this on Coretan Hidup Seorang Ryan and commented:
Okay…
Artikel ini agak lebih panjang dibandingkan artikel Tom lainnya. Tapi, seperti biasa, artikel ini sangat bagus. Tentang bagaimana menyadari keadaan kita saat ini (being present) adalah hal yang penting dan perlu disadari oleh semua. Happy reading ya.. moga mendapatkan seperti yang saya dapatkan dari artikel Tom ini.
For you, have a beautiful Sunday! http://yourinnerfeathersbyruby.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/friday-award-time-thank-you/
Ego…
Have an awesome day, share the love, give everyone their space.
Love, hugs and prayers…ME and the Boss
Balance…
Well thank YOU for stopping by 🙂
Peace and blessings my friend!
Good post. I am just learning to be present in the now. I am trying to stop, realize what is around me, and appreciate being in this moment. I have been humbled so much in the last year that I am trying to appreciate what I do have left. 🙂
Good for you! It’s amazing how much more enjoyable life gets when you see more Of the beauty around you 🙂
I love this topic! Dr. Carl Jung said “If you don’t control your subconscious mind, it will control you & you will call it fate”. On a very simple level… what should I think about when I go to bed… tomorrow or sleep? Thanks Tom, good stuff!
Totally! Your subconscious is an extremely powerful tool, but if you don’t use it for you then it will work against you.
But thanks a lot!
Thanks for the thought-provoking blog. I credit my yoga practice with helping me to stay in the present.
Nancy
Ooo I love yoga! Thanks for coming by 🙂
And how peaceful the now is 🙂 great post
Btw thanks for liking my post ‘Law of attraction on a global scale’ just posted part 2 if you want to take a look
Happy Trails 🙂
Hey your very welcome! Thanks for the comment
You have just described me and my boyfriend perfectly! We both forget everything and can’t focus on anything! Together we are hopeless lol. It’s so frustrating, simple things like – On Friday he drove to my house to pick me up so we could watch films and spend the night at his, we got half way there but ended up driving back to my house 3 times! three! because we kept forgetting things like the hard drive, food, my clothes. We have to really stress at one another to remember anything. I’m starting to think there’s something wrong with us, haha
Clare
haha Yeah I feel your pain. I’m the EXACT same way when it comes to a bad memory
nice!
Excellent point made, Tom. I thoroughly agree. There was a few times I had to make a couple of conscious effort to remember everything that I needed to do. Recalling back to one of your previous video about how doing yoga helps to focus and keep you on the present. Maybe I need to start looking into that.