Awareness

P.2 AWARENESS OF THE PRESENT Every second you spend thinking about the next moment you avoid embracing the present. Ensure your life isn't lived entirely in your head. With global advances in technology, our society is becoming more engrossed in personal gadgets than in world around them. We hold our phones more than we hold real conversations, and each other. We're so busy looking down at screens and engaging in digital interactions that we forget about the environment around us. It seems people would rather experience an event through a camera than use their eyes to enjoy what's in front of them. Concert audiences are lit up by the shimmering of phone screens. This isn't to say that we shouldn't capture mementos of these precious times. But living through a screen prevents us from being present in the moment. As we continue to distract ourselves from the present moment, we become more anxious, fearful and stressed. Worries overwhelm us in our everyday lives because we're now conditioned to live elsewhere, rather than right here. What's more, we ignore the people around us and our personal relationships pay the price.

P.3 This is often why we feel distressed, disconnected and lost. Our vibration is lowered because we feel like we're in some imagined situation that doesn't match up with our lived reality. We relive moments of the past, fear the future and create obstacles in our minds. We devote creative energy to destructive ideas – and this invites turmoil into our lives. Now is the only time you have. Once your past is gone, it doesn't exist, no matter how many times you recreate it mentally. The future hasn't even arrived; but again, you keep taking yourself there mentally. Tomorrow comes disguised as today and some of us don't even notice. Nothing is more valuable than the present moment because you can never get it back. You may create a visual memory that you can retrace, but physically you cannot experience it again. Think about a time when you completely forgot to check the clock or look at your phone. Perhaps you were around the people you love, or doing something you enjoy. You were so engrossed in the moment that you had no time to worry about the past or the future. You were simply enjoying where you were. This is what's known as being in the present moment. Technology is a tool, not a substitute for living.

P.4 As we'll explore later in this book, planning for the future is vital in order to meet your goals, but we shouldn't spend too much time there. When you think about it, the present is still the future, disguised as now. Ten years ago you may have considered the future to be this exact point in your life. The future is today. In my early twenties, if I knew I was going out on a Saturday night, I'd want every other day to hurry up. I was wishing away my precious time – time I'd never get back. Once Saturday arrived, and then passed, I moved on to focus on another day on which I was planning something exciting... and sometimes that was weeks away! This is also the premise of life. Once we're born, every 24 hours we're moving one day closer towards our death. The future we're constantly waiting for arrives only as the present. Once it arrives, it passes by so quickly we don't even notice. We quickly switch our attention to anticipating the next moment, and then the next, and on and on. This is how most of us live. We wake up to get through the day and then go back to sleep. We do this 365 times a year. We wait for success, love, happiness to show up, never really aware of what we have in the present moment. Eventually, we realize that we've never really lived. Or we finally have the riches we wanted yet we can't enjoy them because there's always something else to achieve. We make life all about a future that exists only in our imagination and completely miss what's happening in front of us. We could say the same about the past. Although we might have fond memories that we enjoy revisiting every now and again, we must learn to accept that once the past is gone, it cannot be changed. We can only reconstruct or alter it in our minds. The meditation exercise that I'll discuss next can help you connect to the present. By developing awareness of the present moment, we can maintain a higher vibration because we avoid being paralysed by past pain or future

P.5 The moral of awareness of life can be summarized as follows: **Embrace and cherish the present moment, recognizing the fleeting nature of life. Live with intention, compassion, and mindfulness, understanding that every action and interaction shapes our experience and the world around us. By being aware of the ex interconnectedness of all life, we can foster empathy, gratitude, and a deeper sense of purpose.**

P.6 The moral of awareness of the present is: **Live in the moment, appreciating the here and now. By focusing on the present, we can reduce stress, enhance our experiences, and cultivate a deeper sense of fulfillment and happiness. Being present allows us to fully engage with life, fostering genuine connections and making mindful decisions that positively impact ourselves and others.**