The Real Reason Being Present is Important
SUMMARY
Hey, it’s David Bayer and today I want to speak to you about the present moment. You know, those of us who have been in this spiritual conversation or personal development conversation hear all the time from really incredible teachers, “You got to be present.” Right? Like, “Now is the only time.” “The power is in the now.” And, in my journey, I’ve always said, “Well, it sounds good when you say it fast and it kind of feels right, but why?” Why and how does it work? So, why is the present moment so important? When I talk to people about it, they go, “Well, because, you know, if you’re thinking about the past, the past is already gone so it’s a waste of your mental energy.” That’s true. Then they’ll say, “Well, if you’re thinking about the future, the future hasn’t happened yet. So, what’s the point of really thinking about the future? It’s a waste of energy.” And that’s true. But, that still doesn’t answer the question, “What’s so important about the present moment?”
So, I want to explain to you what is important about the present moment because I think, if you’re like me and you understand the importance, you will actually focus on being present more. So, here’s what’s so important about the present moment. The present moment is the moment, of course, that we’re experiencing life. As we’re experiencing life, we’re experiencing life through the lens of the decisions that we’ve made about life. So, we have, “Ooh, it’s about how life must be and life can’t be. Men and women must be, and men and women can’t be. We must be and we can’t be.” That’s our identity. But, in the present moment is when we are experiencing our rules, our beliefs, or what I like to call our decisions.
So, if there’s anything that doesn’t feel good in the present moment, it’s not congruent with the way that we want to live our lives. It’s not congruent with that higher, intelligent part of ourselves that sees every opportunity in every moment. It’s not congruent with what’s going to serve us best.
So, in the present moment, when you notice that you’re not feeling good, you want to pay attention to the thoughts you’re having because that’s going to reveal to you your blueprint. Right? Ultimately, that’s your subconscious mind. And since your subconscious mind drives all of the activities in your life, you want to start to become aware of the decisions that you’re making that don’t feel good because, ultimately, they’re not going to be creating experiences in your life that you want. So, the present moment is the moment. It’s the only time you can look at the way you’ve been looking at life and change it. You can come up with a new decision. You can say, “You know what? I no longer want to interpret this moment this way. I want to look at it this way. I want to have a little bit more gratitude about it. I’m going to incorporate a little bit more compassion. I’m going to develop a new rule set.”
When you do that, what’s so unbelievable is that your brain will change. It’s basically a signal to your brain saying, “Listen, dude, the way that you’ve been interpreting reality up until now is not appropriate based on what I want to accomplish.” The brain goes, “Oh, okay. I didn’t know that. Sorry. I’ll start to interpret your present moments from now on through this lens.” This is how you literally start to create a new reality. It’s how you start to become a new you. What’s so fascinating is we can study this. Under brain scan, Harvard Medical School brought in piano players, and they studied them while they played the piano, and we got to see what parts of the brain lit up. What’s so interesting is that they then brought the piano players in and they didn’t have them play the piano. They just had them imagine playing the piano and the same parts of the brain lit up. So, what we’ve learned is that the brain does not know the difference between what’s actually going on and what you imagine. So, if you imagine the present moment to be different than what it is, your brain begins to recalibrate and you start to view live through that lens. You start to enroll your brain in working for you rather than against you.
When you do this, it changes three things. You start to have more ideas that are congruent with the new decision. So, if you’re trying to figure out what you want to accomplish in life and you don’t know the how, the key is to make a new decision and you start to enroll new ideas. Look at it as opportunities abound me. New ideas that are opportunity oriented will start to come to you. The second thing is it changes a part of your brain called the reticular activating system. So, you literally start to see opportunities, experiences, and things that are congruent with this new decision that you’ve made the moment you make the new decision. And, of course, the third thing is you activate the power of coincidence. So, when you start to see life differently, life starts to show up differently to you.
So, I hope that makes sense. That’s why the present moment is so powerful. It’s the only time you can change the way that you’ve been viewing the world. When you change the way that you’ve been viewing the world, the world starts to show up very differently to you. So, this is kind of a reality hack.
Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this video. Subscribe to my YouTube channel, would you? Comment below. Subscribe to my newsletter at davidbayer.com. Join in on the conversation. And, if you’d like to, follow me on Facebook. I hope you’ve enjoyed this video. Go out there and get it, live life powerfully, and have an amazing day.
