Living in the now. Now what?

[SlicK]

Edit: Ironic intro begins
Yeah, I can live in the now whenever I want to. I just become aware of this moment, of my surroundings, of my thoughts and actions. DONE! What next? And what the hell is this? And what does it do for me? Hmm... I'm so IN THE NOW... NOW! What next? ....... The Now is kinda boring... I'm writing a post. Some music playing also... It's dark outside... Wow... I'm living in the now! Aaaaaaa screw the Now... I'm going back to the whenever!
Ironic intro ends

There's a lot of information about this: focusing on the present moment, living in the now, being present etc. If you're like me, you're probably fed up with all of those complicated concepts and explanations and even though you feel that you understand, you wish things would just be DAMN SIMPLER!

This became very simple for me today while doing a simple thing: squeezing a lemon. ( Totally non-related: I just found out that this can have another meaning Urban Dictionary: Squeezing the Lemon )

Coming back to my lemon. I cut 2 lemons in 4 pieces. As I was squeezing a half of a lemon, it was frustrating that it took too long and I was in a hurry. When half of the juice was left in a piece, I had to squeeze it a lot of times to get all out of it. This is so simple, it's stupid, I know... but that's the beauty of it! Well... as I got to the next half of lemon, I carefully looked at it and then consciously focused on the fact that I have to squeeze the juice out of it. "I am squeezing this lemon!". I became totally aware of it and focused everything on that: my thoughts and my actions (my hands). So I squeezed that like 10 times faster than the previous.

Yep... stupid and simple, but so important and often forgot. When you squeeze a lemon, FOCUS ON SQUEEZING THE LEMON. Even if you do it with Sally!

[Lakshyayidhi Lakshmihi]

Originally Posted by SlicK

Even if you do it with Sally!

Oh frikkin what?! Great thanks a pantsful for that mental image....

[VinceG]

If you're bored, then you're not living in the now. The now by definition can't be boring. Do something that's not boring and make that your now. Sitting on a park bench like Tolle did for a few years and not being bored requires a particular frame of mind, a frame that needs absolutely nothing. Most of us are not in this state all the time.

Luckily, there's a simple fix. Just find something to do. Mow your grass, go to work, do something that requires your conscious mental input.

[SlicK]

If you're bored, then you're not living in the now. The now by definition can't be boring. Do something that's not boring and make that your now. Sitting on a park bench like Tolle did for a few years and not being bored requires a particular frame of mind, a frame that needs absolutely nothing. Most of us are not in this state all the time.

OK so I need to clarify. I'm not bored. I am very rarely bored since I changed things in my life. I was just being ironic there, trying to emphasize the fact that there's so much information on this subject and it's explained in such complicated ways when in fact things are so simple. You have to get immersed in the thing that you are doing. You put your soul and your heart and your mind into it and the result is GREAT or GREATER than that.

When people do something... anything... usually they think about something else - the mind wanders. To do something efficiently and to get something GREAT out of it ( I'm talking about final results but also the satisfaction of doing it... while doing it), you have to FOCUS ON SQUEEZING THE LEMON while you're SQUEEZING THE LEMON. That is all. It's so simple. To who(m?) perfectly understands this, it might seem like I am not saying anything useful at all. But to the people that ALMOST understand this, what I'm saying will give them the revelation they need. And that's what I want to do with posts like these. I'm just starting out and it's difficult for me to express my thoughts in English but I will get better and better at it.

@Lakshyayidhi Lakshmihi: Sorry But we're even because trying to read your nickname almost made my head hurt

[TracyBrinkmann]

I totally feel ya.... When you are @ work be @ Work! When you are with your family be WITH your family not thinking about work or visa versa. You are so right so many are thinking about how they are going to get a hold of their next apple while they are squeezing the lemon that they leave so much of the lemon unsqueezed......

[Boddhi]

read world wisdoms and start practicing them....the now gets very interesting, take it or leave it.

[ginkgo]

When you are totally in the present then thinking stops and time stops. You would not be asking what is next which is in the future. The thing is you cannot be totally in the present by trying to be in the present. Thinking that you are in the present is not the same as being in the present.

This webpage deals more with what you can do to be in the moment called now and what it feels like.

[Alan1986]

When I am in the NOW, I don't think about "now what?"

You may follow your joy or your fear. Eg. watch a horror movie alone at night in a cemetery or something more exciting/fearful you can imagine.