Day 4 – Now

7 days of presence | a course in inner peace

Day 4 is all about investigating the ‘now’. When was the last time you lived only for the present moment? Memories of the past and expectations of the future easily engulf your awareness. This time-originated imaginary world of the mind creates a continuous inner conflict—a crevice between what is and what is not. You can stand only on one side of this crevice at any given moment. The source of lasting peace lies only in what is because everything else is an illusion that will soon fade and wither away.

Your highway to inner peace is in whatever emerges now. Give undivided attention to the sacredness of the present moment. Then, you will forget about the past and future. Do not try to find yourself from the past nor seek to become anything in the future. Do not follow your mind into what has been or what could be. Live solely for the present moment because the present moment is all there is. Nothing can ever exist outside the present moment. You can never have anything that is not here and now.

Find out the true nature of time. Time is primarily an idea. It's a pattern of thoughts in your mind. Your identity—who you think you are—is a time-originated entity. This false identity that bears your stories is a fragile place for inner peace to reside. The past echoes only as memories in the present moment. The future arises only as premonitionshere and now. Neither the echoes nor premonitions define who you are right now. Peace is your essential nature. Don't let stories of the past and future smother it.

your guidance today

Be aware of your mind when it drifts into time.

Your mind has a strong tendency to imagine stories of the past and future. Be extra aware of such imaginations, and simply let them be. You must not try to resist the mind's tendency to drift into time. Simple awareness will bring you back into the present moment. Don't give yourself time, and time cannot stand in between you and your peace.

Remind yourself that the past and future do not exist.

The past and future are merely mirages in your mind. Have you ever experienced now something that is in the past? Has your future ever arrived before it was here and now? Nothing has ever happened and will ever happen outside the present moment. Rational thinking might lead you astray with this. Be relentlessly aware of your own thoughts. Remind yourself that you don't want to find affirmation and gratification through thoughts—what you want is peace. Time can never give you that.

Give attention to whatever occurs here and now.

Your life situation might appear to exist in time, but your life is in this ever-continuing here and now. It cannot be anywhere else. Where life is, freedom and peace emerge. Don't think about it. Don't try to solve 'time'. Feel life within you and around you right now. Find the pure experience devoid of all meanings and ideas. If your attention drifts anywhere from whatever occurs in the present moment, you forget life. What is fortunate here, though, is that you can only forget life—you can never lose it.

Do not impose meanings on whatever happens here and now.

Your mind-made meanings and labels are products of time. As the past and future are not here and now, the meanings cannot be true here and now. Whenever your mind tries to interpret what occurs now, don't stray into those stories. An empty mind is not a dull mind—it is a sensitive and aware mind, which creates conditions for inner peace to unfold.

Now day affirmation