Why You Keep Living in the Past and Future

[00:00:03]The only solution for you to be in the present not get lost in the past or the [music] future is to bring extraordinary quality of awareness. It is only when you are present [music] in this moment that is when you connect to the divine more powerfully. You're not [music] bringing your past pain and coloring your present. Stories [music] are always about the past. How many of you want to live in the present moment?

[00:00:35]Why should you go beyond uh the habitual mind states which kind of takes you back to your past or your future and why should you live in the present moment?

[00:00:49]It is only when you are present in this moment, only when you begin to live your life more and more in the present, that is when you connect to the divine more powerfully.

[00:01:06]Being in the present, there is an incredible connection that happens with the vaster intelligence of the universe.

[00:01:14]you're able to connect to this higher power. It is only when you are in the present moment, you would experience a gradual shift that is happening in your neural brain structures or the neural structures, the neural wiring in your brain.

[00:01:32]Only when you learn to being bring uh your attention to the present moment and you're living in the present, your anxiety centers in your brain become smaller and the intelligence driving centers in your brain they become activated.

[00:01:50]It is only when you are in the present moment I would say there is an incredible intelligence that is possible for you to actually respond to this moment efficiently intelligently so that if you're handling a problem you're able to solve a problem. If you are looking at an opportunity you're able to see opportunities. So that happens only when you are in the present moment. And it is only when you are able to live in the present moment there then that is when you access the greater capacity to connect to connect to people in your life to connect to your loved ones to connect and heal people like say your children your grandchildren in that experience of connection in that experience of healing you're able to heal the other you also have the incredible capacity to heal and nurture the relationship itself.

[00:02:46]It is only when you learn to be in the present moment, you will be calmer during the challenges that you face in life. And I can definitely say that your efficiency will be multi increased multifold. That is it is it's going to multiply.

[00:03:06]But all this happens only when you learn to be in the present moment. There is joy, there is peace, there is bliss, there is ability to connect, there is ability to respond to life, there is ability to heal, the ability to nurture relationships, ability to activate the greater regions of your brain where there is um intelligence possible.

[00:03:31]All this happens only if you are in the present moment.

[00:03:39]You have the greater experience of the divine. You become the vehicle of the divine. You have grace flowing into your lives. You have uh the ability to pray for oneself as well as others only when you are in the present moment.

[00:04:00]But let us understand what is this past mind. Why is it that you're getting back to your past mind? So what is this past mind?

[00:04:09]If you begin to observe, you'll be able to see that this past mind is nothing but stories.

[00:04:19]Um as a child when you had read stories or you were told stories, how did they begin?

[00:04:26]The most stories began with something like once upon a time there was stories are always about the past.

[00:04:39]So what is happening is you turn every key memory in your life or all the key memories of your life into stories.

[00:04:51]And with each repetition of these stories in your head in unawareness, you make that story into you.

[00:05:03]Because when you revisit the past and get back to that experience, you no more see it as a memory that happened.

[00:05:16]You see it as though it is happening to you.

[00:05:23]You see it as though it is you.

[00:05:28]But are you these stories? No, you're not the positive stories, nor are you the negative stories.

[00:05:37]But you make the stories as you in a sea. You see, some days the color of water in the sea is blue, some days it is turquoise, some days it is a different darker blue, at night it is black. It's color is only reflection of the light, the sand, the clouds over it.

[00:06:00]Similarly, you are not these stories.

[00:06:03]You are not your past.

[00:06:07]You're not these memories.

[00:06:11]You're not your past painful stories.

[00:06:15]You are pure consciousness.

[00:06:20]When this awareness is there that you are not these past stories, when you're not your past pains but you are pure consciousness. When you have this awareness that you are not the stories and you are pure consciousness, you go beyond the mind and there in that awareness you simply see life.

[00:06:48]You respond to life from the present moment. You respond to life from present, not from the past.

[00:06:59]You are simply responding to whatever is arising.

[00:07:07]You're not bringing your past pain and coloring your present. You're fully alive to the present, awake to the present, and you respond to the present.

[00:07:20]If you look at the nature of the future mind, the future mind, the nature of it is to constantly project.

[00:07:30]Well, past are stories.

[00:07:33]In the future, you're constantly imagining. You're projecting. You are imagining.

[00:07:40]Again like so many numbers of automatic processes in the body like there is blood circulation, digestion, all that is happening in the body, right? The future mind is engaged automat the automatic process of projection of imagination.

[00:08:02]And when you are not aware of this future mind, you're lost in involuntary compulsive planning or you're lost in a daydreaming, vague daydreaming. Much of the time we can say you are literally lost when you are stuck in the projection of the future. And I'm specifically using this word lost in planning because it is it is not engaged planning. It is you're just planning compulsively and you are lost in planning.

[00:08:43]When the future mind takes over you, you cannot stop planning. Even when you want to sleep, it is like it goes on and on and on.

[00:08:56]It is driving your excitement or it is driving your anxiety or you're sucked into those daymares.

[00:09:04]You're sucked into your anxiety.

[00:09:07]A simple change in the graph falling.

[00:09:10]You imagine that you're going to become poor. You will fall sick. You won't be able to afford health cost. Nobody will support you. It is like a constant projection after projection after projection. That is what the future mind is. Your future mind is all about imagination and projections.

[00:09:33]How many of you are able to recognize this? This is what I'm doing. I'm constantly projecting something is going to go wrong. Something tragic is going to happen to me. Who is going to take care of me? It is a constant projection after projection. Now, what is the solution to all this?

[00:09:52]We have to draw a plan. Plan A to stop all thought.

[00:10:00]What do you think of that plan?

[00:10:05]Think only when it is necessary and when it is not necessary, stop.

[00:10:10]It sounds like a very good solution. But uh that is not the nature of the brain or the mind.

[00:10:18]Um you may have moments where thoughts are slowing down. You also may have moments where there is thoughtlessness.

[00:10:25]But the nature of the human brain and the human mind is to continuously generate thought. Just like how we can't say the lungs has to stop breathing.

[00:10:35]Pretty similarly your brain cannot stop thinking. So to stop thinking that plan does not work.

[00:10:44]Plan B which most of them use is about selective thinking which is to only think pleasant stories, beautiful stories, pleasant projections, great anticipations, uh beautiful projections. So not to think of the negative stories at all.

[00:11:02]Don't uh go into negative memories at all. Also don't have negative projections about the future. Don't don't be stuck in uh tragic projections.

[00:11:14]So what is the suggestion in plan B is for plan A is to stop thinking. Plan B is to become highly positive person. Uh how does this sound to you?

[00:11:28]It sounds excellent. Definitely it is unrealistic for sure. Um a mind that is in an autopilot mode that is in unawareness habitually will turn out positive stories but in fact will turn out more negative stories. Uh in unawareness please know what your mind is used to is to become obsessed about anything. That is what is happening in unawareness.

[00:12:00]you're obsessively uh planning about the future or you're obsessive obsessively daydreaming so unconsciously uh that large parts of the day you wouldn't even know what you were thinking and uh you're obsessively going back to a past. That is the nature of the mind.

[00:12:20]In unawareness you tend to obsess.

[00:12:24]You're obsessing over your past or you're obsessing over your p future. So trying to have selective positive thinking and just to play positive thoughts or positive stories and great anticipations that actually means you're trying to repress stressful states. You're trying to push down those stressful memories.

[00:12:46]You're trying to hush those anxieties.

[00:12:50]Just remember this. Anything repressed, anything you're hushing down, it will become distorted.

[00:13:04]So, plan A of not thinking doesn't work.

[00:13:08]I'm sure all of you have tried. Plan B of selective thinking and positive thinking also doesn't work. So there is only one solution and that one solution is to bring an extraordinary quality of awareness. It is to bring great presence to the mind.

[00:13:31]The only solution for you to be in the present not get lost in the past or the future is to bring extraordinary quality of awareness.