Forgetfulness

AA wrote:"Long time, no hear... You've had such great thoughts in the past weeks but I've been "forgetful", having the past and the future take over, not living in the present.

Being forgetful this very morning...

I remember one saying - the Past is gone, not there anymore. The Future is not there yet. It is a Gift to live in Today - that is why it called a "Present".

So true and so difficult to realize.

How happy our life would be if we only could live in this very moment, in this very second.

I remember once having really, truly and deeply had that experience... I was sitting in the sauna, closing my eyes, enjoying the warmth... Forgetting about everything and just ENJOYING. It was a huge experience as if I had understood everything in those few seconds. Everything disappeared around me - for a short moment I was THERE. It is so difficult to reach that state - up to now I remember having truly experienced it only once, and that for few seconds.  But... the experience was so vast, I will never forget it. As if you had been One with Oneness of Being.

That is what I've been doing the whole summer - being somewhere else but not THERE. Grudging about the Past, worrying about the Future, and not enjoying our Gift of the Present.

Thank you for reminding me.

I will take a deep breath now, and enjoy for being THERE. Enjoy for each step I take today."

BB wrote: "En liten reflektion i sammanhanget är i vilken mån man skall tillvarata sina erfarenheter i sina dagliga beslut. Så fort man gör det är man ju i någon mån i det förgångna ...." 
HappyNet's comment: There are two kinds of thinking. 1. The reflective, analysing thinking, where you ponder something, search solutions etc.    2. The "letting your thoughts flow" thinking, that accompanies us along the day and drags us away from what's actually happening. 

The first one is important and necessary; we do it deliberately, and with mindfulness. 
The second kind is just a lack of concentration, and the one that we should try to limit...

CC wrote:"AA wrote:"Well said, Sabina! Thank you!"

Forgetfulness

“Most people are forgetful; they are not really there a lot of the time. Their mind is caught in their worries, their fears, their anger, and their regrets, and they are not mindful of being there. That state of being is called “forgetfulness” - you are there, but you are not there. You are caught in the past or in the future. You are not there in the present moment, living your life deeply. 

The opposite of forgetfulness is mindfulness. Mindfulness is when you are truly there, mind and body together. You breathe in and out mindfully, you bring your mind back to your body, and you are there. Then you can recognize the many conditions of happiness that are in you and around you, and happiness just comes naturally.“

Thich Nhat Hanh: Shambhala Sun, March 2010

It’s quite obvious what state we’d prefer to live our lives in, isn’t it? But mindfulness takes an effort, it asks for our concentration. 

Nothing comes from nothing, but once we've realized that life is too short to be lived carelessly and forgetfully, we will do our best and try to live at least parts of it mindfully. Starting right now?

Have a mindful and happy week!

The Happiness Network