The Greatest Obstacle To Happiness
And How To Overcome It
Beyond Positive Thinking by Dr. Robert Anthony
Our life is about a string of moments in time. So often we stand in our unhappiness trying to improve a future moment. The problem is that this moment is where we are creating what we call our “future.”
Most people are looking toward a future time for pleasure and a feeling of satisfaction, but very few experience it in the NOW. Yet NOW is the only time that exists. What you are being, living, thinking and feeling in the present moment will determine your happiness. It also determines how much time you will on worrying about the future.
Your Point Of Power
Think of your present moment as your Point of Power, because it is the only point where you can exercise your full power. For most of us the present moment exists only as mental concept. If there is such a place where all the creative forces of the universe come together, how do we know it is the present moment? What evidence is there that this is true?
Consider this; all your hopes for the future and even your memories of the past can happen only in the present moment. The present moment is that one point where everything comes together.
When does life start? When does it end? When do cause and effect take place? When is it that we meet every challenge? When are problems are born and when are they resolved? When do we feel pain? When are we healed? This all happens in the present moment.
We have been taught that those moments are separate from each other, but in truth, they all take place in the now. No matter what happens in life, it is always now, than, now, then now – always in the present moment.
Nothing exists outside the NOW.
Nothing ever happened in the past – It happened in the Now.
Nothing will ever happen in the future – It will happen in the Now.
When you think of the past, it is stored in the mind as a former now, and when you think about the past, when do you do it? You do it now!
When the future comes – it comes in the now, and when you think about the future, when do you do it? You do it now!
The past and future have no realities of their own. Their realities are “borrowed” from the now.
The insanity of Future Time
How does this pattern operate in your life? Are you always trying to get somewhere other than where you are so that you can finally be happy?
The truth is that all unhappiness is caused by denial of the present. We think our problems and unhappiness are caused by our situations in life, but attachment to the past and future and denial of the now is the real problem. Ultimately then, there is only one problem in life – not living in the now.
You cannot be unhappy and fully present now. It is impossible to have a problem when your attention is in the now. When you live in the now, you either deal with a situation or accepted now. Whenever you have a problem, it means you are dwelling on a situation without having a true intention or possibility of taking action now.
Answers Come In The Now
Perhaps you are seeking answers to your questions or problems. Notice that sometimes you receive your answer, but most of the time you don’t. Why? Because you are not in the present moment when the answer arrives! Anytime your mind is out of the present moment you cannot receive the answer you need from High Intelligence.
The answer can come in many ways and at any time, but it will always come in the present moment. If we spend most of our time regretting and living in the past or worrying about he future we place ourselves out of the present moment where all creativity and answers take place. Does it make any sense at all to desire, requests, yearn and pray for that which is closest to your heart and necessary to your life and then not be paying attention when the answer arrives?
Our point of power can only exist in the present moment. We create from this moment whether the materialization appears instantly or late as a complex event. However, all creation takes place in the now. If we really understand this truth, we will have an inexhaustible supply of usable energy at our command.
It is only our thoughts, attitudes and emotions in the moment that have power. It is not what happened to us in the past that keeps us from living a successful and happy life in the present. It is how tightly we hold on to the past by reliving its trauma and drama in our present moment. When we constantly worry and re-examine the past in order to discover what’s wrong with the present, we reinforce the same thought process that will create exactly that which we are trying to escape.
Have A Sense of Humour
The Rules of Life by Richard Templar
How important this is. As we struggle through this life – and it can be a struggle – we need to keep a sense of proportion about it. What we do and what we take seriously can often be so far removed from what it is actually all about that it is laughable. We get bogged down in trivia, lost in irrelevant detail to such an extent that our life can whizz past and we don’t even notice. By letting go of things that really aren’t important we can put ourselves back on the right track. And the best way to do that is through humour – laughing at ourselves, laughing at our situation, but never laughing at others; they’re just as lost as us and don’t need to be laughed at.
We get bogged down with things like worrying what the neighbours will think, concern over stuff we don’t have, or things we haven’t done: ‘Oh no, I haven’t washed the car for two weeks and it’s filthy and next door did theirs yesterday so it looks like we are really lazy.’ If we ever think we’re getting like that then we do need to have a laugh about it. Life is for living, enjoying and sunshine, big things – not getting in a terrible state because you dropped some eggs on the supermarket floor.
Laughing at yourself and situations you find yourself in has a double positive effect. Firstly, it diffuses tension and helps regain a sense of proportion and secondly, it has real physical as well as mental benefits. Laughter causes the release of endorphins, which make you feel better as well as giving you a better perspective on life.
This isn’t about telling jokes all the time, or cracking witty puns. It’s more about being able to see something funny in whatever life throws at us along the way – and there is always some humour in everything.
If you observe any aspect of human behaviour, you can see the ridiculousness in all of it. Learn to find the funny side of everything. It’s the best technique for instant stress relief and dissolves anxiety and doubt. Try it.
SEE SOMETHING FUNNY IN WHATEVER LIFE THROWS AT US
ALONG THE WAY!!!
Positive Balancing Thoughts
I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.
– Maya Angelou –
Our worst misfortunes never happen, and most miseries lie in anticipation.
– Honore de Balzac –
We all look. The lucky find. The wise accept. – Nora Roberts –
The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. – Alice Walker –
We are not held back by the love we didn’t receive in the past, but by the love we’re not extending in the present. – Marianne Williamson –
