The "power of now" is a basic truth. Being in the moment is the source of our power. It is a simple idea that makes sense and is compelling. We have grabbed onto that idea with the help of Eckhart Tolle, and have been inspired to live more in the here and now. Yet many of us have found the practice of being fully present in the now to be much more challenging than his writing would have us believe.
It is perplexing that an idea so simple should be so difficult to implement and maintain over time. There is nothing complicated about the notion of bringing awareness to what is going on right here and right now. But we resist that experience with the most vigorous and creative means that our human minds can devise. We distract ourselves and we avoid ourselves and we fret about ourselves and we shame ourselves and we numb ourselves and we escape ourselves. At some point we tune in again and notice we have left home. We re-commit to the goal of being in the moment, and then yet again we fall off the wagon of awareness.
We have such trouble staying in the now. And that is for a very good reason. Even though we intend to inhabit the moment, the moment is filled with uncertainty. The moment is not under our personal control. Uncertainty and limits to personal control are vulnerable. And vulnerability does not feel good.
The moment is so vulnerable because by definition it is an experience. Experience is not a concept. "Now" is not an idea. Experience is in the body. That simple fact is what makes being in the now not only powerful but vulnerable.
The body is constantly reading the world and itself, and is in flux. Change is vulnerable. We do not "control" the fluctuating flow of our experience. We do not "control" what our body feels in relation to the ever-shifting conditions of the world around us.
As we tune in to the moment we are awash with sensations that may not be comfortable. The sensations of vulnerability that call to us when we face situations of uncertainty are what I have named "dissonance" - an uncomfortable feeling of arousal and tension that is meant to get our attention. The body in its perception of the world is often activated and alert. The body is asking "Are we safe?" It needs to know if the conditions we face are best met by a narrowed mind and a tense, aroused body that is ready to jump and run, or whether they would be better addressed with a calm body and a clear, compassionate, creative, flexible mind.
The experience of vulnerability activates the sympathetic nervous system. It feels like threat. But it is really just a phonecall from the body asking us the safety question: "Are we safe?". The body as a "here and now physical organism" asks that question in terms of "here and now physical danger". The body wants to know if there is an immediate threat to life and limb. If the body is asssured there is not actual danger it can settle itself and open a path for reflective consciousness to handle things.
Dissonance is often what we bump up against when we bring our attention to the now. It is an experience we need to tune into. But we are biologically wired to move away from sympathetic nervous system arousal. It just seems like the right thing to do - at a level below our conscious awareness we are motivated to avoid or escape when we feel those feelings. So in order to be in the now we need to wake up and recognize dissonance as an invitation to do the opposite of what comes naturally. The discomfort of dissonance is not a message of danger despite being transmitted via the sympathetic nervous system. It is not meant to send us scurrying away from ourselves. It calls us to approach ourselves. It needs us to bring warm interest and nonjudgement to the breath and muscles and tissues of the body, and asks us to stay there patiently until the body recognizes our attention.
When we bring awareness to the moment we will be evoked to leave the moment. That is simply a fact of being human. We are beings engaged in a world over which we have limited control and much uncertainty. The feeling of that is not easy to manage. And that experience makes being in the now harder to actually do than we might think.
So I invite you to embrace both the vulnerability and the power of now. Let yourself recognize how simple and how hard that is to actually do. And as much as you can, as often as you can, practice tuning in to and taking care of the bodily experience of now, in order to harness its power. So you can matter. So you can grow.
Photo credit: D.Beder Photography