First off all, thank you for your kind words.

Second, don’t say that your name is strange, because if we think about it, all names are strange; it’s our familiarity with them that makes them “normal.”

I’m glad that I managed to really make you think about time with this article. If you want to read more of my ideas on life, you can check out the rest of the blog articles.

First off all, thank you for your kind words.

Second, don’t say that your name is strange, because if we think about it, all names are strange; it’s our familiarity with them that makes them “normal.”

I’m glad that I managed to really make you think about time with this article. If you want to read more of my ideas on life, you can check out the rest of the blog articles.

The simplest explanation is this: our perception of living NOW is in fact living in the FUTURE.
We’ve been blinded by the simplicity of the word “now” and we didn’t see it’s real meaning in this context. “Living now” means that YOU LIVE, NOW, – as in “I didn’t live yesterday, but now I do” – which, in turn, means that now you’re working harder towards the future than you were doing yesterday.

@Albert: It would really make a big difference, but I think it takes more than a single “revolution” to achieve that. Oh, and it takes a lot of people with prepared minds… which are rather lacking these days – no pun intended for anyone.

The simplest explanation is this: our perception of living NOW is in fact living in the FUTURE.
We’ve been blinded by the simplicity of the word “now” and we didn’t see it’s real meaning in this context. “Living now” means that YOU LIVE, NOW, – as in “I didn’t live yesterday, but now I do” – which, in turn, means that now you’re working harder towards the future than you were doing yesterday.

@Albert: It would really make a big difference, but I think it takes more than a single “revolution” to achieve that. Oh, and it takes a lot of people with prepared minds… which are rather lacking these days – no pun intended for anyone.

More opinions from more people will certainly appear in time – already projecting that. :}

Now to try to briefly answer your questions:
1. Is every present moment really future oriented? At the moment I can’t tell for sure if *every* moment is future oriented, but I can tell that *most* of them are. Think about us talking here in the comments… if I was to live exclusively NOW, I wouldn’t consider you answering – you’re doing it in the future. The implication of that: I wouldn’t be writing this in the first place.
2. Does dreaming of the future have a positive or negative effect on the material manifestation of that dream? If by dreaming you were referring to the consideration of a possibility in the future, then it’s mostly having positive effects. Why just mostly? Because not all dreams are created equal. Depends on the way you dream.
3. Does living in the NOW make time feel faster or slower, or perhaps obsolete? I know for sure, and science experiments have proven it, that panic situations dilute our perception of time. We feel that time expands. The reason: our body enters a protection mode in which more blood and energy are almost instantly directed to the parts of the brain that deal with reflexes and such – while decreasing the energy and blood in other organs and parts of the brain that are useless for danger situations. If we could constantly enjoy the most and focus on what we do in the present moment, and if that isn’t a situation that calls for the activation of protective systems, time should flow normally. However, intense pleasure situations make time seem to flow faster.
4. What do great athletes mean when they speak of focus and presence of mind as key to their success? Maybe they’re misjudging the perception… we’re doing that more often that we dare to even think. Maybe their projection of them winning is what gives them the extra energy and focus. Without the winning chance that’s ahead each of them, who would compete? Tell me that you’re gonna give me $1mil tomorrow night if I write a short novel by then and you’re going to get me writing ASAP. If I were to concentrate exclusively on writing it… I would write only a few pages. But if I were to constantly think about the reward tomorrow… I’m buzzing ’till the last moment. Hope this makes some sense. :}
5. Is feeling as if we are living in the NOW a reward in and of itself or just a tactic to help achieve future success? This one I don’t know yet. It could be both, or it could be one at a time, depending on the situation.

Trying to answer your questions got me to consider this: maybe there are situations in which we’re living NOW. Those are the extremely dangerous situations in which every resource of our body is invested into its protection, thus taking resources away from everything else that is irrelevant to the situation – thinking about retirement, debt, what you’ll do tomorrow, etc. BUT, this sort of living in the now can be lethal – the shutting off of the irrelevant elements can be so dramatic and sudden that it can potentially lead to shutting off the whole system, thus killing the individual.
However, this too is anchored in the future, as trying to survive serves a purpose that is further down the road.

It’s really late here and I’m rather tired, so I hope that these ideas make some sense.

More opinions from more people will certainly appear in time – already projecting that. :}

Now to try to briefly answer your questions:
1. Is every present moment really future oriented? At the moment I can’t tell for sure if *every* moment is future oriented, but I can tell that *most* of them are. Think about us talking here in the comments… if I was to live exclusively NOW, I wouldn’t consider you answering – you’re doing it in the future. The implication of that: I wouldn’t be writing this in the first place.
2. Does dreaming of the future have a positive or negative effect on the material manifestation of that dream? If by dreaming you were referring to the consideration of a possibility in the future, then it’s mostly having positive effects. Why just mostly? Because not all dreams are created equal. Depends on the way you dream.
3. Does living in the NOW make time feel faster or slower, or perhaps obsolete? I know for sure, and science experiments have proven it, that panic situations dilute our perception of time. We feel that time expands. The reason: our body enters a protection mode in which more blood and energy are almost instantly directed to the parts of the brain that deal with reflexes and such – while decreasing the energy and blood in other organs and parts of the brain that are useless for danger situations. If we could constantly enjoy the most and focus on what we do in the present moment, and if that isn’t a situation that calls for the activation of protective systems, time should flow normally. However, intense pleasure situations make time seem to flow faster.
4. What do great athletes mean when they speak of focus and presence of mind as key to their success? Maybe they’re misjudging the perception… we’re doing that more often that we dare to even think. Maybe their projection of them winning is what gives them the extra energy and focus. Without the winning chance that’s ahead each of them, who would compete? Tell me that you’re gonna give me $1mil tomorrow night if I write a short novel by then and you’re going to get me writing ASAP. If I were to concentrate exclusively on writing it… I would write only a few pages. But if I were to constantly think about the reward tomorrow… I’m buzzing ’till the last moment. Hope this makes some sense. :}
5. Is feeling as if we are living in the NOW a reward in and of itself or just a tactic to help achieve future success? This one I don’t know yet. It could be both, or it could be one at a time, depending on the situation.

Trying to answer your questions got me to consider this: maybe there are situations in which we’re living NOW. Those are the extremely dangerous situations in which every resource of our body is invested into its protection, thus taking resources away from everything else that is irrelevant to the situation – thinking about retirement, debt, what you’ll do tomorrow, etc. BUT, this sort of living in the now can be lethal – the shutting off of the irrelevant elements can be so dramatic and sudden that it can potentially lead to shutting off the whole system, thus killing the individual.
However, this too is anchored in the future, as trying to survive serves a purpose that is further down the road.

It’s really late here and I’m rather tired, so I hope that these ideas make some sense.

Great stuff. A very nice dissection of the NOW, I’m always happy to hear that this timeless (pun not intended) principle is slowly spreading across the world. What a difference it would make!

Cheers,
Albert | UrbanMonk.Net
Modern personal development, entwined with ancient spirituality.

Great stuff. A very nice dissection of the NOW, I’m always happy to hear that this timeless (pun not intended) principle is slowly spreading across the world. What a difference it would make!

Cheers,
Albert | UrbanMonk.Net
Modern personal development, entwined with ancient spirituality.

@Adam: Please note that I didn’t call it all rubbish. However, the part with “do not dream of the future” is totally rubbish.
The great people who credit their success to staying present have done so for a purpose that was further ahead down their road. They had that moment down the road in the front of their minds.
The great athlete was present because he wanted to win the race – something that was further ahead of him.
Not one of us is completely living in this very moment. Some enjoy the moment more than others, but we’re doing our living in the future.
And I beg to differ about the time slowing down… I think it would rather speed up if we were to live in the moment. :) We have more control over time (it slows down) in panic situations.

@Adam: Please note that I didn’t call it all rubbish. However, the part with “do not dream of the future” is totally rubbish.
The great people who credit their success to staying present have done so for a purpose that was further ahead down their road. They had that moment down the road in the front of their minds.
The great athlete was present because he wanted to win the race – something that was further ahead of him.
Not one of us is completely living in this very moment. Some enjoy the moment more than others, but we’re doing our living in the future.
And I beg to differ about the time slowing down… I think it would rather speed up if we were to live in the moment. :) We have more control over time (it slows down) in panic situations.

As I read, I was thinking something similar… perhaps the panic responses to the dangerous situations you described are examples of humans being compelled or even forced to live in the present moment. But what if instead we consciously choose to more fully experience each moment we are alive? Perhaps that way we’d start to have a better understanding whether we really can live in the NOW…

I hope your projection stating that more people will comment materializes.