Inspiration Series - Month Twelve

Your Point of Power is Always NOW

“Always remember, your focus determines your reality.” – George Lucas

I was in my senior year at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. The entire school – freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors – had assembled to participate in a guided meditation led by Barbara herself. This wasn’t at all unusual, but it was always special, at least for me. Barbara’s meditations had a way of expanding my awareness to levels of consciousness I couldn’t yet access on my own.

So there I was, sitting with my eyes closed and drifting peacefully into a deeply relaxed state, when I heard the words, “eternal Now moment.” I don’t remember what else she said, but just then I had a sudden and very clear realization of past, present and future existing not as a straight line, but as an endless, ever-expanding vista, extending in all directions at once.

The implications of that realization were astonishing, and in that moment of expanded awareness I felt able to grasp the enormity of this deeper truth about time. I knew it changed everything we assumed was possible for us to experience.

And then the meditation ended, and my awareness settled back into normal, waking consciousness. I had experienced something profound, but the stunning clarity of that initial realization of the endless vista had faded.

Still, the idea and inner sense of “the eternal Now” stayed with me. It was further illuminated by teachings from a broad range of geniuses, from Albert Einstein to Eckhart Tolle to Deepak Chopra to Seth. And more than a few intrepid scientists, whose names escape me now, have tried to help the less quantum-minded among us understand that linear time is a construct of the human mind. It isn’t “real.”

There is only one moment, and it is Now.

Although I don’t pretend to fully grasp the mind-blowing implications of this, I’ve begun to make a little sense of it for myself and for my clients. It helps enormously to think in terms of energy rather than “things.” When we perceive our existence in terms of things that ultimately decay, whether those things are people or pets or plants or house furniture or thoughts or beliefs, we observe a shift in state from “existing” to “no longer existing.” If something no longer exists, it is in the past. If something has yet to exist, it is in the future.

When we perceive our existence in terms of energy, we observe a shift in state from existing as ”energy in one form” to existing as “energy in another form,” much like water shifts from a liquid to a gas when heated. It still exists, just in a different state.

It still exists. It always exists.

We are swimming in a sea of energy that always exists, energy that pulses and vibrates into and out of forms that we perceive with our senses. And the really incredible thing is, it is we who influence those shifts in vibration, shifts that are ultimately perceived by us as things and circumstances.

We shift energy fundamentally through our focus. Our focus is like the tuner on a radio: it selects the frequency we’re on. As we focus, so we vibrate. And because one of the properties of energy is something called entrainment – otherwise understood as like attracting like – as we vibrate, so we attract people and circumstances into our lives that match the vibration we’re on. This is highly simplified and undoubtedly incomplete, but it’s still valid and helpful in understanding our creative power.

So what does this have to do with the Now moment? A lot, actually. It is ridiculously common for even the most passionate and committed people to lose heart when they hit an extended bumpy patch on their road to inspired living. Or when they’re attempting to create something that, in the past, they’ve never been able to create, whether that “something” is financial prosperity, a successful business, good health, a satisfying relationship or anything else their heart desires.

What happens at those times is that they become focused on what didn’t go well in the past or what isn’t going well now. And that focus creates more momentum for similar experiences to show up in their lives. And the more of those experiences that occur, the more they focus on them, and the more entrenched the pattern becomes.

From the perspective of time being a straight line from past to present to future, it appears they’re riding a train on a track heading right where they don’t want to go.

From the perspective of the eternal Now, they can shift their focus, shift their vibration and shift the nature of the experiences they’re having.

One of my clients, whom I’ll call Meredith, demonstrated this shift in a powerful way. When she first came to see me, she longed to create work that was enlivening and fulfilling. Yet for years she had been stuck in a bureaucratic environment where the heart-centered nature of her work was consistently devalued, misunderstood or completely ignored, in large part because of the way the organization and its methods of communication were structured by management.

She was vibrating on a “management is the obstacle to good work” frequency, and to say it wasn’t fulfilling would be an understatement. The dynamic seemed entrenched and unmovable.

Yet regardless of how long it had been going on, I knew her point of power was Now. So her work became learning how to focus her attention on her own intentions rather than the perceived intentions of others. She made a point of acknowledging and appreciating herself for the many contributions she was making, seemingly unnoticed by management. She began looking for even the smallest acts of respect that the management team showed her or anyone else.

I also gave her the assignment of thinking through, and writing down, how she would ideally want her job to be structured. That exercise was intended to help shift her focus, which it did; it also helped her get clear on what she wanted to look for in her next job.

But here’s the amazing thing: within literally weeks of writing it down – and also practicing the other crucial shifts in focus mentioned above – her boss came to her with an idea for restructuring her job. Although her boss had never seen what Meredith had written, her proposal matched Meredith’s idea almost identically.

It was incredible. And the story doesn’t stop there. With her clear focus on what she wanted and what was going well, Meredith began enjoying her job. She was living on the “I’m making a meaningful contribution” frequency, even though she knew she ultimately wanted to grow into an even bigger position.

And that’s exactly what happened, without any effort on her part. Within six months of starting our work together, she was approached by a former colleague with an offer for a high-level job in an organization that was already making inroads in areas that were near and dear to Meredith’s heart. Meredith left her then-current position on the best of terms, took the new job and continued to soar. She received two promotions within a year after starting in the new position, each one more ideally suited to her talents and passions than the one before.

She learned to sustain her focus on what mattered to her, time and again, moment to moment. She knew that, even when things started getting bumpy, her point of power was always in the Now moment and she would find ways to shift her focus and get on a new frequency.

Like Meredith, your point of power is always in the Now moment. No matter what you’ve experienced in the past, or what’s happening in the present, what you think of as your future is determined by your focus Now.

Your point of power is always Now because you can always shift your focus Now.

The art of this is discovering what works for you. How might you focus in a way that feels valid and true for you, right now? Start by acknowledging the deepest truths you know, or the most empowering beliefs you hold, about yourself and the nature of Life. They might include understandings such as…

…I am a spark of the Divine, here to express my true nature in human form.

…I live in an infinitely abundant universe.

…I am loved and supported by the Divine ( or God, Source, Spirit, the Universe, etc.)

…I am meant to thrive.

…I am meant to be happy and fulfilled.

…I have unique gifts, talents and passions that I am here to enjoy and share.

…I have all the time I need.

…My desires, intentions and thoughts are powerful creative forces.

You get the idea. Take some time to feel through this on your own. What do you believe to be true, in your heart of hearts, that comforts and inspires and uplifts you? How might you support yourself in shifting your focus to those things when you’ve slipped into thinking that things have gone “wrong”? What kinds of things can you do regularly to keep your focus on the deeper truth?

As you probably know, I’m a big fan of what I refer to as anchor statements. They are personal mantras that I call on when I’m feeling doubtful or resigned or scared. First I pause to feel how I feel, then I remind myself that whatever I’m thinking in that moment arises from an ancient, fear-based belief in scarcity, then I take a deep breath.

And then I anchor into a deeper truth. Here are samples of some of the anchor statements I use.

When I’m just a little scared or doubtful:

  • I am right where I need to be. I have all the time I need. Love is seeing me through.
  • I am meant to thrive.
  • I am safe and dearly loved.
  • The more relaxed I am, the better everything flows.
  • I trust in the power of my intentions.

When I’m a lot scared or doubtful:

  • Only Love can see me through. I choose to love myself right now.
  • This reflects an old vibration. It only has the power I give it right now. My job is not to buy into this story.
  • The intensity of this feeling is how powerful I am. There is only one true power, and it is Love. It is mine. It is for me. It is with me, in me and all around me. Only Love is real.

The ability to shift focus from fear to love is an art, and the development of mastery in any art requires practice. So…keep practicing. It will get easier. It will start to feel natural. It might even become…fun.

Reach for the most loving, supportive and empowering perspective you can hold – Now – about your past, present and future. Be stubbornly persistent in seeing yourself through the eyes of love. That is where your true creative power lies. In your love, in this moment.

Focus there now.

Inspired Practices

  • Listen to this meditation several times over the next month. Let each experience be a fresh one.
  • Set aside quality time to reflect on the deepest truths you know about yourself and the most empowering beliefs you hold about what is possible in your life. Write them down in whatever format is easiest for you – bullet points, prose, poetry. Intend to feel your way through this, deeply, so that when you read what you wrote, it feels comforting and true.
  • Think about a circumstance, or type of situation, in which you can easily get swept or sidetracked into feelings of frustration, resignation, doubt or fear. Create one or more anchor statements – statements of deeper truth – that you can call on during those times. Experiment with them until they feel solid.