Accepting myself and the present moment sounds soothing.
But what if accepting myself together with my current situation will take away my desire to progress, to evolve?
Won’t I be getting lazy and lose all interest in improving
myself and the situation I find myself in?
There seems to be a bit of unclarity with regard to accepting who we are, being happy in the present moment versus thriving, growing and evolving.
And as different as the two aspects might seem, in reality, they are deeply correlated.
So, how does being fully present in the moment help us progress on our life-path?
First of all, it is essential to keep in mind that evolution and growth are the core qualities of the very existence.
They happen constantly, endlessly, with or without our conscious implication in the process.
Everything is evolving.
On the other hand, the energy of acceptance is healing, balancing, nourishing, giving clarity and sharpening our intuition.
It connects us with the inner child within, with the primordial purity and innocence.
From that place, progress happens to us effortlessly, easily, naturally, since we become realigned with our highest purpose which will pull us towards it like a magnet.
From the scientific point of view, MRI scans show that after just few weeks of regular mindfulness practice, the amygdala – the brain’s “fight or flight” center appears to become less active and shrink. This primal region of the brain, associated with fear and emotion, is involved in the initiation of the body’s response to stress.
As the amygdala shrinks, the pre-frontal cortex - associated with higher-order brain functions such as awareness, concentration and decision-making – becomes thicker.
The functional connectivity between these regions also changes. The connection between the amygdala and the rest of the brain gets weaker, while the connections between areas associated with attention and concentration get stronger.
The scale of these changes correlate with the number of hours of meditation practice a person has done, according to Harvard and University of Pittsburgh research.
So taking action will be easy when we are rooted in the present moment, when we are deeply connected with our intuition, with our heart intelligence. There will be a far higher clarity regarding our direction and a life purpose will begin to emerge the more we stay in the NOW, the longer we are consciously present.
Life will become more purpose-oriented and things will start happening at a higher speed.
And let us not forget what being in the moment means: consciously feeling life, rather than trying to conceptually understand life.
In fact, life can only be found in the present moment.
And as the author and spiritual teacher Deepak Chopra was saying, living in the present moment creates the experience of eternity.