Be Here Now
Be Here Now was a 10-week seminar I taught in the 70’s for est— a transformational seminar company– 200 people at a time, in four major East Coast cities. I’ve aspired to live in the moment before then, and ever since.
Be Here Now is the mantra for today. We were gobsmacked the past couple of years, and we’re uncertain about tomorrow. Are we going back to normal? What is the new normal? How do we plan for it? Be Here Now is more important than ever. The essence of it is we miss out on life if we live in our heads, rather than connecting with the immediate moment of being alive. Life is a series of successive moments of “now.” It’s always “now,” and then “now,” and “now.” Really. “Now” is all we have. We reminisce and we plan, and that’s nice and necessary.
Be Here Now is the name of a spiritual classic book that inspired a generation. The author, Richard Alpert, was a Harvard professor, who, with Timothy Leary, conducted research on the therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs. In 1967, he travelled to India, where his guru renamed him Ram Dass, servant of God.
At that time, many of us were on a spiritual journey to find what’s inside—underneath what the college degree said we were. I was fascinated by my study of Eastern philosophy in college, as part of my minor in Religious Studies. Inside our physical being is the self-realization that we are a luminous inner being who can trust indefinitely and love infinitely.
I live by that, and I strive to connect with the immediacy of being alive. I learned from Buddhism: All suffering comes from desire—for worldly things. It’s a liberating discovery. When I am in the “now,” there is no model of how I’m supposed to feel or act. Be here now means there’s nowhere else I’m supposed to be or need to go, nothing I need to have. It’s all here when I am being here now. I make room for my wants and desires, but they don’t run me. I can always look inside myself, and see the wellspring of pure joy. It’s my default setting. Recently, I’ve learned—again– NO simply means NOT NOW.
And lately, my answer to life’s little anguishes is: “Just cuz I did it THAT way before and it worked, does not mean I can’t do it THIS way now.” Life, after all, is successive moments of “now.” Especially now, is it healthy to base decisions on past decisions? Or on the hopes of the future?
Right now, do you have a memorable answer to the question, “What do you do?” Let’s work that one out. Please call me to schedule your FREE 30-minute clarity call to help you create your now statement.