That is a great question.
Why don't we live in the present moment more?
And I think it's just that we don't trust it.
We're so used to living in fear.
We're so convinced that all of this time thinking and worrying and fretting,
Living in our thoughts,
That somehow we are keeping ourselves safer.
And so we trust it more than we trust the present moment.
Even when we have periods of time where you are very present,
And you feel peaceful,
And you feel safe,
And you feel as though everything's just going really nicely,
You're really enjoying it.
And you think,
Why don't I just stay here more often?
But then something will come along,
A situation,
Maybe you're triggered,
A thought,
Something you remember.
And then we just run so quickly back up into our thoughts,
And really believing that this is the safer place to be.
And even doubting when we were feeling so peaceful and present,
That we were somehow delusional because we were present,
And that now we're living in reality,
Back in our thoughts,
Back in our fear.
And so our practice is to keep being mindful of the fear of the getting lost in our thoughts of coming out of the present moment,
And that whatever it is that's arising,
To come in and feel it,
To come in and be with what's here.
The fear,
The thoughts of fear are so compelling,
They're so alluring.
But when you come in and feel the fear in your body,
It doesn't overwhelm you.
You're actually more grounded.
You're present with what's here.
You're facing the fear.
And you're even finding in that acceptance,
In that welcoming the fear that is here,
That there is peace,
Because you're no longer pushing back on it.
And so this is a continuous practice of recognizing when we're getting pulled out of the present moment,
Trusting the fear and the anxiety and the stress and the worrying more,
And pulling ourselves back into our bodies,
Welcoming the fear,
The exact opposite of what we want to do.
But to breathe into it,
To feel the physical sensations of fear and say,
It's okay that you're here.
It's okay that you're here,
Fear.
I get it.
I get it.
It's such a familiar feeling.
And the body itself is so used to being in that mode.
So even as you're having insights,
And you're really starting to understand more about who you are and more about the mind,
These old habits do tend to play out for quite a while.
So it's really recognizing it coming into the body and feeling what's here,
Accepting the physical sensations,
Not the stories,
But the physical sensations,
And really opening your heart to them.
It's okay that you're here,
Fear.
It's okay that you're here,
Jealousy.
It's okay that you're here,
Sadness.
Let me breathe and create a little space for you.
And every time you do that,
You are trusting the present moment more than you are trusting your fears.
And that is how we continuously,
We begin again and again and again.
It doesn't matter how many times we go back up into the fears,
That we keep coming back and being present with what's here,
No matter what it is.
And what you start to see then,
What you start to know in your heart,
Is that you can trust whatever is here in the present moment.
You won't fall apart.
You won't suddenly become unsafe,
That you will be okay.
And you start to trust this more.
And you start to really understand that the illusion is the fear.
And you start to trust this more and more.
It's a practice,
Begin again and again and again.
Because every time you do that,
Then you are coming back into the experience of who you are,
That you can be with whatever it is that's here,
Trusting the present moment more than you do your fears.
