•. by Dawn King. •. We can count our blessings if we reside in a country whose citizens celebrate personal freedom of expression, including the pursuit of one’s personal dreams. However, we may find that the feeling of happiness this freedom should bring eludes us. We are each living in the aura of our own thoughts, attitudes, and emotions. Recent and past personal experiences may color these. Where does happiness live?
Recently, I found myself a bit down from the mostly negative world news coming my way. Likewise, I found myself thinking repeatedly that I was failing miserably in all areas of life. I’ll spare you from why this appeared to me to be the case. Even having these kinds of negative thoughts about myself didn’t fit with my idea of success, or certainly of happiness. Knowing my repeated thoughts would be self-fulfilling, I prayed for a way out of this destructive mental loop.
The answer came in the sweet instant I LET GO of thinking, of expectations, and opened my consciousness to the NOW, the present moment. Breath filled my lungs; love and joy filled my being. With no expectations, I could feel the perfection of life within and around me. Mine became a sense of wellbeing.
“This is a perfect moment,” replaced negativity. Now, as often as I can remember throughout my day, I stop my busyness and think: “This is a perfect moment.” I stop and inhale the perfection of the NOW. My consciousness immediately expands to realize the wonder and blessing of life. How calm, and calming it is simply to BE. This is my salvation. And each NOW moment is freedom from fear, stress, and feelings of failure.
The same practice helps me deal with trying to plan the future. In James Kelleher’s July Jyotish Newsletter he writes: Uncertainty isn’t a bad thing. It’s actually the natural state of the mind when it’s centered in pure consciousness. It can heighten intuition and bring a pleasant sense of wonder, the beginner’s mind.
Pure consciousness is not grasping or achieving. It is not concerned with the past or future; it is simply now. While editing articles by Norman Paulsen, founder of Sunburst, I’ve come to realize his favorite word is “now,” and he uses it frequently. How interesting that “now” is at the heart of the word “know.” To know God, and to know lasting freedom, we must live in the NOW.