“We don’t just passively perceive the world; we actively generate it … [It’s] a process hardly different from that which we casually call hallucination. Indeed, in a way, we’re always hallucinating.”
– Anil Seth, neuroscientist
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I believe the answer to everything is to get present.
But before I get into this, one of things I do not want to do with these emails is waste your time.
However, I do trust that when I’m present, the right things will come out. These Wednesday words often seem long to me – who has the time and/or interest to read such long emails? Yet the open and read rates say that a big chunk of you are.
So thank you – but know that I don’t take your attention and time lightly. I want to give you something worthwhile, always.
Let me know your questions, what you’re struggling with, and pondering over? What do you want more of? Maybe I can help in some way. How can I help? This is my mission, and my pleasure, so in advance: thank you.
If you do want less words – I write something very short for social media most days. A quick reminder, a quick meditation for your day. I post them on Instagram, Facebook and twitter, so if you want more, hunt me down out there too.
Anyhoo – back we go …
I believe the answer to everything is to get present.
There is nothing in life that does not benefit by you fully showing up to it.
Nothing.
Our trouble, I think, as individuals and as a culture, is we don’t realise how important being present is.
I used to spend 99% of my time somewhere else.
I was rarely in the same place as my body – I was driving to work in one of the most spectacular places in New Zealand and I didn’t see a single thing, let alone appreciate how beautiful my commute was.
Our minds and our lack of conscious attention can make heaven disappear. It’s like some bizarre Zen koan. Does heaven exist if there’s no one there mindful enough to appreciate it?
(Answer: No.)
We create heaven. We create hell. We create Blah and Ho hum… and all through thinking.
I was busy thinking about what the day might bring, having imaginary conversations with my boss and clients and then re-playing them until I got them perfect. All that practice? My day never ever happened the way I had rehearsed it. Never.
And I was at work way before I had to be! For someone whose free time was so precious, I certainly spent it extremely poorly.
The only time I was in the same place as my body was when I was having a great time. That should have given me a clue!
Good times = being present. And… Being present = good times.
But we don’t realise this.
We don’t prioritise being present. We don’t prioritise it because we don’t value it. We don’t value it because we think some other moment is more important than the one we are living.
None of this is true.
The truth is:
Nothing else can be truly known and lived except for now.
Our memories are so incomplete and twisted they are laughable, and like I found with my fruitless rehearsal, our futures are truly unknowable.
All the past and future is merely a thought. A fuzzy recollection or a maybe.
If you want the truly alive life, this is your mission! Prioritise being present over and over again until you become presence itself.
Now –
When you fully show up you a little bit of magic we’ve just been talking about becomes very apparent:
Life isn’t something that happens to you. You are something that happens to life.
You create and generate the life you live. Your brain doesn’t record the world, it is actively MAKING it. As the good scientist Anil Seth tells us, you could say we are constantly hallucinating our own individual realities.
This is good news, for you can change your hallucination pretty simply and immediately.
Your personal hallucination centres around the power of judgement and fear or the power of a fresh attitude and positivity. Your internal choice defines and powers your external world.
You choose! You’re always choosing.
So if you want more life, a better life, a more vibrant, exciting life, choose differently. Choose for presence and curiosity and innocence and appreciation and beauty and truth. Choose consistently until you overcome all the habits of limitation and funk.
It doesn’t take any time to show you the difference; it doesn’t take nearly as much time as you think to become the difference.
Alrighty? Choose well, for that is the life you live.
Here’s to you working on your inner journey. Thank you for making a difference.
Go well!
Arjuna
PS.
If you’re interested, I've got a few Ascension meditation courses this first half of the year. Ascension is what I teach and personally practice. I really love it. If you've enjoyed these words, maybe you'll appreciate a practice that will help your inner journey and outer life.
Message me or comment and I'll make sure you get details.
Thanks!