Can You Find Peace In This Moment?

Hello and welcome to today's session.

I invite you to take a seat or lay down and get yourself comfortable.

You can close down the eyes if you wish and just take a deep slow breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.

In a moment I'm going to share with you a question to contemplate and then we'll sit in silence for a minute and just let it percolate and then we'll talk about that question and just see where the discussion leads us.

This question and indeed all of the questions in this course are designed to be a catalyst for change,

A prompt that will help you to reframe your thinking,

Help you to consider new possibilities and approaches and to usher in a state of being that is more attuned with your highest calling.

I invite you to approach the question with an attitude of extreme openness.

One where for the duration of the session you welcome in and accept any and all responses that arise.

There are no right or wrong answers,

No good or bad thoughts and nothing for you to run from or run towards.

Just be open to whatever arises as it is for what it is in this moment without judgment or filter.

By doing so you'll be opening yourself up to the deepest and truest expression of wisdom and intuition available to you.

So let's take a moment to sit with today's question.

Can you find peace in this moment?

Can you find peace in this moment?

So this question,

Can you find peace in this moment,

Speaks to the truth that mindfulness and a lot of spiritual traditions try and point us towards.

Indeed a lot of psychotherapy and counselling techniques like to point us towards.

This idea that this idea that there is nothing but the present moment.

You know the be here now,

Embrace the present moment.

Nothing exists other than a perpetual state of now,

Atop now,

Atop now.

You know from a physics perspective we are at the forefront of time.

You know really really just sit with that for a second.

We are at the forefront of time.

We are riding that wave perpetually into the future.

You know the wave of the present moment is pushing forth never endingly into the future.

We are at the most forward time of humanity's total existence.

But it doesn't always feel like that does it?

It feels from a lived perspective that we're sort of living in the past or that we're contemplating the future or that we're not quite here now.

I'm not even talking about like a sci-fi you know living in the future futuristic technology perspective or you know dreaming of the past and reminiscing about our childhood.

But I mean just a lived experience of a day-to-day life.

How often are we really here now in this moment?

Have you taken a single breath today?

Just one breath of present focused attention.

Have you spent any amount of time just being in your body?

This isn't me throwing shade at you,

It's me speaking to myself.

I meditate daily,

I exercise daily and I do things that sort of ground me and put me in my body.

But then when I'm not doing those formal practices I tend to sort of bounce between you know podcasts and listening and this and that and doing all of these things and that inevitably results in disappointment.

Regulation which inevitably results in living in the future or the past you know anxiety,

Rumination,

Depression,

All of these things.

I don't always fall off the cliff but it's more that rather than being here now and you know feeling the satiation of thirst from that glass of water and enjoying the taste of the food that I'm eating and you know really just resonating with the play that my son is bringing to me you know etc etc I'm sort of off in thought a little bit.

I'm not really present and I know that you know this is someone speaking that meditates daily that actively works on this and my experience as a teacher and a coach and just speaking to people in everyday life it's clear that a lot of us in the western cultures particularly are just lost.

We're lost in thought in an overabundance of stimulation in social media,

Podcast,

Videos,

Constant availability of entertainment.

But what does that cost us?

It costs us the present moment.

So back to the question here,

Can we find peace in this moment?

Can we find peace in this moment?

What are we running from?

Oftentimes we find ourselves running from boredom.

Boredom is an interesting one because what does boredom even mean?

Can you be curious about the feeling of boredom?

Boredom is a feeling of agitation,

A feeling of needing to do something,

A push,

A drive,

A desire,

Wanting more but not being sure exactly what or how to get it,

Not being satiated,

Not being regulated.

It's a practice of using any stimulation,

Any stimulus,

Any sensory input as meditation.

You choose your meditation object,

Your anchor,

And you return to it back and back again.

That's the act of mindfulness meditation,

Right?

But what if you were to choose your meditation object as the internal sensation of boredom?

Can you be curious about boredom?

That's an interesting concept,

Something to consider,

And I invite you to play with that space if that appeals to you.

But what I want to sort of go deeper into now is finding peace in this moment.

There's this idea or this sort of intuition that I think is a little bit faulty,

That we all seem to approach spirituality with,

At least initially,

That you find spirituality,

You know,

On the meditation mat or in the church or,

You know,

At the ashram or whilst you're listening to a chant and have incense and a candle in front of you and a picture of your guru and all of these,

You know,

Paraphernalia and sort of appendages to spirituality.

It's like set the mood,

Set the scene,

Set the intention,

All of these things.

And yes,

Those moments are very special and very spiritual and lovely,

You know,

A fire ritual where you're discarding,

You know,

Aspects of the past can be very awakening and engaging and beautiful.

But if you go into the concept of enlightenment,

Of true peace,

True peace isn't to be found just in those moments.

True peace is to be found in every moment and indeed isn't something quote unquote special.

It's just a life of peace.

Really,

Every moment,

Any moment is just as available to that spiritual place,

That peaceful place,

That enlightenment space as any other.

Maybe this is a concept that's a little bit advanced to a new practitioner of spirituality.

But when you sort of boil it down,

There are no moments that are more aware,

Awake,

Available to you than the present moment.

No matter what is arising in that moment,

There's this idea that every moment,

Every word,

Everything is the guru,

Is the teacher,

Is the mantra.

Oh,

Something bad is happening,

So that's not spiritual.

Maybe.

Or perhaps you could reframe that and go,

There is a spiritual lesson to be held here.

Reframe it in a different way saying,

Despite this,

Can I be at peace?

Or can I find peace in this moment?

I've got this overwhelmed feeling,

I'm feeling angry,

I'm feeling jealous,

I'm feeling like someone's attacking me.

Someone may be attacking me.

Is there peace to be found in this space?

Or am I lost?

Do I lose my mindfulness in that moment?

What needs to change in this moment to be more present to the ever-perpetuating now?

It's like,

Are you waiting to get through life before you can next be spiritual?

Oh,

You're at work,

That's stressful,

Skip,

Skip,

Skip,

And then I'm at home now,

I can meditate now,

I'm at peace.

I don't like that.

I don't like that logic.

There's an exercise analogy here.

I don't exercise to get better at exercising,

I exercise to get better at life.

I lift in the gym so that I can do my martial arts practice better.

I lift in the gym so I can play with my kids.

I go for runs,

Not for the sake of going for a run,

Because my body is healthier,

Because I am happier,

Because it benefits me outside of the gym,

Right?

What are we meditating for?

What are we doing this practice for?

It's not to get better at doing the practice,

Per se.

It is to be calmer,

Happier,

More in control,

More focused,

More peaceful in everyday life.

So perhaps this question,

Can you find peace in this moment,

Is an invitation to look at every moment,

Every moment,

As an opportunity for peace.

I'm not saying you'll find it.

I'm not saying that I can find it,

But the act of looking for it will open it up.

Let's say you do this practice and you find peace in 50% more moments than you have been.

That's an absolute win,

Right?

Just being open to the possibility of finding peace in the moment will allow more peace to come into the moment.

I invite you right now just to take one slow,

Deep,

Calm breath.

I'll pause the audio for 15 seconds and just sit in that peaceful space.

You ready?

Go for it.

So,

How'd you go?

That breath,

That pause,

Just 15 seconds,

Is available to you anywhere,

Everywhere.

So,

You know,

Another consideration to take into your everyday practice might be just taking that small time out just to find peace in each moment.

I have a watch on and my watch beeps every hour.

It goes beep beep,

And I use that as a trigger to take a slow,

Calm,

Mindful breath and to just check into my body,

You know,

Am I happy,

Am I sad,

Am I tired,

Am I overwhelmed,

What do I need?

So it's like a mindful breath and a check-in.

And I tell you what,

It is one of the best tools that I've added to my spiritual,

Mental health,

Psychological,

Whatever you call,

You know,

Self-improvement practice.

It's helping me to regulate and helping me to become present and mindful throughout the day,

Not just on the meditation mat,

But in everyday life.

And combined with that daily practice,

It's,

Oh,

It's been an exponential change.

So,

I invite you to sit in contemplation for one more minute and ask yourself the question,

Can you find peace in this moment?

Can you find peace in this moment?

So,

Well done.

This brings us to the end of the session.

At the bottom of your screen,

You'll see the option to view the classroom or to ask a question.

Before moving on,

I invite you to take a moment to click through and share your insights,

To read the answers from other students and to hear my replies.

Remember to start your responses by restating the question so that we know which one you're referring to.

This is an opportunity for deep learning,

Further introspection and insight,

So please don't miss out.

Look forward to seeing you in the next session.

Thank you.

This session was taken from the course,

Awaken to Your Highest Calling.

It's out now and available on Insight Timer via my profile.

Check it out.