Excuses Begone! Part 6 of 12: Now
October 1, 2009 by dr. lam
This blog may be considered a repeat from previous blogs on Tolle’s The Power of Now. However, I think all of you know how much I believe that repetition and consistency are the keys to these blogs. Think of these blogs as mental exercises that require reinforcement, daily practice, and implementation for them to have meaning, substance, and for them to work in your life. Instead of thinking, “Oh, I know about all this already,” say to yourself, “What new thing will I learn from this blog today? What reminder did I need to hear today from this blog?” These blogs may not have a brand new message every day but will have a kernel of truth that can be an affirmation for you to implement into your life.
That being prefaced, like Tolle, Dyer admonishes that to live in the now free of thinking of the future and thinking of the past, we can avoid almost all excuses. The words, “My parents were like that so how I can act differently?” forces us into the past (our past prevents us from doing something) when? in the future. Another excuse would be, “it is too risky”. That is future think because it has not happened yet but we assume that it will unfold in such a manner. When we are ensconced in the present, we begin to see that excuses cannot take hold of us.
Dyer invokes his study of the Tao by talking about “allowing” and “not judging”. When we live in the moment, we can live in the moment without reference to the past or to the future but we can still live a very negatively imbued present tense. For example, “I am wasting my time here,” or “why is she saying that to me?” We also can force things harder if the square peg does not fit into the circular aperture. We coerce the situation to proceed in a certain way. Remembering our Taoist image that was invoked in a previous Mindfulness Monday, we should be like water, flowing effortlessly, naturally, and with vigor. Live in the now.
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Dr. Lam, I meditate on your blogs and use them to rewire my brain. I’m so analytical that I can do this…lol Love the reinforcements because they allow me to see just how I have changed my thinking from the way I thought before, and also they help me branch new perspectives from the concepts.
I’m a Dr. Lam-Blog fan…lol I’ll buy a T-shirt!!!
I LOVE all the great, new, self-improvement wisdom! I’m just so glad I bumped into them!! Thanks, Dr. Lam!!
I think living in the now is all really great and all, but I do think that being aware of how a thought process stemmed is beneficial, and not that it can be used as an excuse, but that it can help someone overcome an excuse by recognizing the reality of it and moving on. Really good point about living in the present though.
Very deep concept there about “allowing” and “not judging”… Funny, “Why is she saying that to me?”…Good luck, figuring that out!…lol (inside joke) lol
Awesome blog!!