The Power Of The Present Moment

Well, aloha, and welcome to today’s Conversation Starter, which is all about the power of the present moment. I’m a member of a choir. I get great joy from the choir, it’s extraordinary.

I didn’t think I’d get so much pleasure, and it’s part of my anti-dementia strategy, because I have to really think quite hard, so I’m hoping that by doing all this thinking quite hard then it’ll stave off any possible dementia.

However, I digress, so there I was at choir practise and our conductor was talking about, in performance, that the only thing really you have is the note that you’re singing right now, and possibly the notes that you’re gonna sing in the next bar or two.

There’s no point in focusing on the notes that have just been, because they’ve been, they’ve gone, and you can’t change them. So, the note is a moment in time.

It could be good, it could be bad, but if you spend time focusing on the note that has gone, then you’re not gonna be able to focus on the moment, focus on the note that you’re singing right now, and some of the notes that you’re gonna be singing in the next couple of bars, so into the future.

And as I was listening to him I thought, “Wow, what a great metaphor for life.” Stop focusing on the notes that I have sung, particularly the notes that I have sung and how badly they went,

and focus on the note I’m singing right now, in the here and now, and maybe the notes that I’m going to sing in the next couple of bars, or the next couple of hours, or days, or weeks, or whatever it happens to be.

I’m a trainer of NLP, neuro-linguistic programming. And in NLP, we have something that we call the modalities of necessity. So, we talk about should, could, would, must, must not, should not, could not, and so forth.

And when we’re thinking about the past, so often we have these should of, could of, would of moments. We bring in that, it’s that sort of necessity or what I should’ve done, and it’s got a fairly yicky feel, and actually it doesn’t serve us very well.

So, “Oh, well, if I’d have known, I would have done that. “If I’d had time, I could’ve helped you, “but I didn’t have the time, so I’m sorry I couldn’t.”

Or, “I really should’ve done this, “I should’ve reached out to my client yesterday. “I should’ve phone my mum yesterday, “or talked to my daughter,” or whatever it happens to be.

But those moments, those should of, could of, would of moments, they’re gone, they’re done. And you can’t actually change them. Now, I’m a great believer in celebrating past successes, celebrating those things that we’ve done that we’re proud of, that we’re happy about.

I think that’s great, and it’s probably the difference in musical performance and in celebrating life. In a musical performance, no, you’re not just about to celebrate the note that just went, you need to move on, stay in the present, and move on into the next few bars.

But certainly, as far as the stuff that I could of, should of, would of, there’s no point, it’s gone. But in life, how easy it is for us to spend that time focusing on our past mistakes, on the things that went wrong, and we dwell on it went wrong, and why it went wrong.

And then the little inner critic perks up and it tells you you’re a bad person, or it tells you that you were stupid, or whatever your personal, inner critics messages is for you on that day, in that moment.

The yada-yada, the monkey mind, the money chatter. So, one of the ways of dealing with the inner critic actually is to focus on the present moment, and to focus on the future.

So, yeah, I did that in the past, but how can I be in the present moment? How can I be my absolute best in the present moment? How can I change my behaviour so that moving forward,

I’m doing things differently, so that I don’t reexperience the things in the past that I don’t like, ’cause I could of, should of, would of, or I just plain got it wrong?

So, that’s my Conversation Starter for today. How can you change the notes of the past, or ignore the notes of the past? Forget them, leave them behind. Focus on the notes in the moment, and the next few bars.

And how can you deliver the note of the moment and the next few bars with your best possible energy and your best possible delivery of the notes?

So, I’d love to hear your opinions on it, you can put something in below the video, you can message me on LinkedIn or on Facebook, or you can book a chat, secretartofhuna.com/diary, and I’d love to talk to you, see you soon.

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