Article first appeared in Prediction Magazine, August 06, page 51

You would imagine that if you were a ‘seer’, a psychic with a crystal clear ball, or your favourite deck of Tarot, the future would be at your fingers tips, there would be no problems, and life is as easy as pie. This is not the case!

Foretelling is half of the story, the other half is how to make things happen now that you do know they will. If you like, one half of the equation is ‘knowing’ the destination, the other half is having the map and charting the route. I often also mention to my clients that the future is like a garden; what grows in the future is dependant on what seeds we plant in the present. The future is really created in the experience of ‘now’. 

Michael Brown, author of The Presence Process says “The quality of the seeds that we sow in any given moment is very different depending on whether we choose to react or to respond to our experiences.

Reacting to our experience means that we are making our decisions based on what we think happened to us yesterday and what we think may happen to us tomorrow.

We are only responding to our experience when we make choices based on what is happening to us right here, right now. It is only possible to respond to our experiences when we unlearn the behaviours and belief systems that lead us into reaction.”

Practising being in the now is what helps us do this ‘unlearning’. It is about holding our attention in the present and being mindful of our own thoughts, emotions and actions (before we take them). It is about observing our self and taking care of ‘that self’. Once we understand ourselves better, we would be better able to understand others better- making our life a little easier!

Just for now, focus on yourself, on being in this present moment. Forget for a few minutes your obligations, or other people’s expectations of you; or indeed your expectations as to what should happen.