Living in the NOW: 2. By doing instead of being all of us often try to be in the NOW.
Peak experiences bring about a feeling of happiness that most people find extremely pleasant. They also seem to have a positive effect on us as persons and they result in a situation in which we not only feel good at the moment itself but also afterwards. After such moments or a succession of such moments we also get the feeling that for some time we can handle our daily lives again. Just think of the feeling that you experience when you have seen an exceptionally pleasant "feel good film" that made a seep impression on you. When watching it your mind was completely focussed on the film, your mind was only busy with one thing and with nothing else because you were totally involved in the story. Just compare the way you feel after watching such a film with your feelings of boredom and dissatisfaction after you have been zapping for a while in front of your TV set and actually watched three programmes at the same time.
A feeling of flow, of losing all sense of time, of becoming one with what you are experiencing often brings about a deep feeling of relaxation, refreshment and sometimes even a sensation of deep consciousness. In general activities that cause flow give us a good idea of what people really find pleasant and as a result it is not surprising that many people wonder how they can get more of such peak experiences. It is a good thing that we instinctively feel this way and it is only natural that most people try to find the time to relax and to enjoy life.
At work we take coffee breaks, we smoke a cigarette once in a while, other people have a hobby or spend time running or doing fitness training. Some people find relaxation in a pub or a bar. Is not it strange that we love activities that at first sight do not produce anything for us? What do we benefit from activities like collecting stamps, spending whole evenings consuming expensive drinks, making high jumps when kitesurfing? What do we achieve by cycling 60 or 70 miles or exhausting ourselves climbing a high mountain? Living in the NOW makes us happy and that is exactly what we are all after. But this seeking for relaxation and the happiness resulting from it goes much further. For one person it means booking yet another holiday in a very distant country, for another it means practising a very extreme sport, and for yet another buying an even more beautiful pair of crocodile leather boots from the latest collection.
 This kind of behaviour is often characterised by wanting more and more and slowly but surely we drift farther and farther away from the moment and our mind forces us to live more and more in the future or in the past. The goal becomes more important than the way and our mind becomes the slave of our intellect. "How happy I would be if I would meet Mr Right." Or: "Imagine my breasts would be a little bigger" "For sure I would be noticed by all men that I come across." "I cannot be happy in this country where I live". "As soon as I can afford a Porsche I will be as happy as I can be." Etcetera. The feeling of happiness that the realisation of this sort of dreams brings with it is only temporary. After a little while we get bored again and it becomes more and more difficult to achieve a feeling of fulfilment. When you realise this you cannot but raise the question: do you try to find your happiness in this way? Do you try to find your happiness from new games, your work going out, holidays, your relatives, your spare time? Or are you one of those few lucky people who can be totally happy even if things do not go completely right, who lives his life to the full, who is never restless, depressed or angry and has found complete inner rest within himself? If that is the case, you had better surf to another site because Meditating has not got much to offer you. Or even better: send us an e-mail: within the ABC group there is always a place for this kind of fantastic people that are extremely rare.
'Enlightenment is the realisation that you do not have to go anywhere, you do not have to do anything and you do not have to be anybody except the exact person that you are at the moment'
Neale Donald Walsch in 'An unusual conversation with God.'
If, like most of us, you get most of your happiness and pleasure from doing things, then Meditating may mean a lot for you. Meditating teaches you to be happy without doing anything. It is part of our true nature to be always in the NOW and as long as we do not realise this our attempts to get more happiness take us farther and farther away from the NOW and consequently from our happiness.
Read the sequel about Living in the NOW in the third article on this subject: In the NOW everything is beautiful and perfect.
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