How to be At Peace With this Moment?

Posted on by Sen.



There’s a lot of awareness among people, at present, about “staying at peace with the Now”, especially since the popularity of the many spiritual teachings and literature in the last few years, in this information age. This awareness, about the amount of restlessness in the body and the endless agitation in the mind towards wanting a future moment or regretting a past moment, is quintessential towards waking up from the mind’s negativity. However, the very pointer of “staying at peace with the moment” could easily become yet another technique in the mind, where it starts making an effort to be at peace – the mind cannot “do” this, except may be temporarily through forcing some form of silence onto itself. This pointer actually is not something to “do”, but about a recognition of the possibility of a state of being, and this state of being is something you come to naturally when your mind momentum ebbs away – it’s not something you achieve through the mind, rather it’s something you see is the natural state when the mind has lost its momentum.

If you are trying to be at peace with the moment, using your mind, you are basically just suppressing what’s arising naturally in this moment – when you have a high mind momentum, and suppressed energy in the body, there is bound to be “restlessness”, it can’t be avoided. The way you come to a natural state of wholeness/inner-calm is when you allow the restlessness totally, instead of fighting it – and this state of inner-wholeness is “permanent”, not a fleeting one, so if you sense an inner-calm now and then, don’t chase it (it’s not the final deal), just know that once your mind momentum has ebbed away and your suppressed energy of the past is released, you will come to this state of inner-calm automatically as a permanent state. It’s pure physics, that once your mind has run out of momentum, it ceases to create resistances in your being and hence you don’t oppose the movement of life-force, and hence you feel at peace in all moments, you feel at home with the Now without trying to do so.

Don’t “try” to be at peace

If you have to try to be at peace, it’s just your mind doing its “strategies” again. If you can let go of this mindset of looking for temporary peace, you can easily come to this place of permanent inner peace. When you are stuck in searching for the temporary peace, you are rooted in the mind, and the mind just keeps using some strategy, or technique, to attain some temporary peace now and then. This way you are never going to feel a sense of real freedom, because there is always the effort to be at peace.

If you let go of trying to be at peace, or trying to be happy, or trying be positive, you finally let go of the mind strategies, and hence you let go of the mind – you let go of trying to solve your life through your mind. Only when you let go of the mind can its momentum truly start reducing. It doesn’t take more than a few months for the mind momentum to ebb away by 60-70%, once you let go of trying solve your life through the mind – people who’ve really let go even for a couple of months see a huge difference in their inner stability. Instead, if you are like some “cynical” person, who keeps defending negativity, who keeps saying “this is too tough” or “it can’t be that easy”, you are basically buying into the mind and hence will stay stuck in fueling its momentum.

The only reason why people don’t let go of their mind is because of this need for “temporary relief”, which is a natural drive but it’s something that keeps you a hostage to the mind. Even questions like “am I doing this right” or “I am not able to let go”, are all just thoughts that the mind throws up, and if you don’t buy into these thoughts, you will stay in a state of allowing – you need to see through this simple trick of the mind to get your attention, all it has to say is “Am I doing this right”, and you give it all your attention and become worried. It’s not about doing it right or wrong, it’s about letting go of the mind oriented “figuring out” for a while, which includes not buying into its doubts or questions.

Also be willing to commit a few months to this process, and don’t keep checking in everyday about whether you are making progress. It takes time for the mind momentum to reduce, and while it does so, there will be days when the momentum goes to a peak when it gets combined with the release of suppressed energy – it doesn’t mean that you are regressing, it just means that the release is in full swing. I can understand the sense of panic that can arise when the release is in full swing, but now that you know that it’s normal, you can be at peace with it. And if your mind asks “Am I doing this right”, “why is nothing changing”, “what can I do to make it fast”, all these are just the mind looking for a technique, just don’t buy into it. This process is not about the mind, the mind is not the one who is going to “do” this, it’s about letting go of the mind – and if the mind says “but I am not able to”, just let go of this thought also, because if you buy into this thought you will stay stuck in this loop.

Wholeness is your natural state of being

Restlessness is the state of being when the mind has a high momentum. Restlessness can take any form – obsessive thoughts, anxiety, stress, unpredictable behavior, over excitement, over aggression, greed, over indulgence, physical symptoms (like ticks) and imbalances of different kinds. The root causes of all of this is that you have a high mind momentum and possibly a high amount of suppressed negative energy, that’s all, nothing else. It doesn’t matter what your specific symptoms are, the root cause is always the same. And though there are many temporary relief deals you can end up with, none of them gives you a permanent solution because you are not addressing the real problem. Unless you are willing to consciously release the suppressed energy and consciously reduce the mind momentum (by letting go of the mind), by going through a period of release, which does entail discomfort, you don’t empty out the negativity and hence you don’t come to your natural state of being which is permanent inner wholeness.

I am sure you’ve had a fore-taste of what inner wholeness feels like, especially during the moments when the mind just takes a break. And then you try to re-create this experience through doing some mind techniques, and then you end up in an endless loop of chasing this peace, like a dog chasing its tail. But this peace is already here, it’s not something you get to, it’s something you realize is always here when the mind momentum dies away. Reducing the mind momentum is the pre-requisite to aligned living – without getting to this place first, you cannot experience a sense of aligned living. However, as your mind momentum reduces, and your suppressed past negativity gets released, you will sense a lot of shifts happening in your reality that keeps moving you into your natural expression and harmonious surroundings (though some of these shifts may be interpreted by the mind negatively because it can’t see the bigger picture).

Practices have an initial value, but eventually you need to let go

This inner wholeness is not something you “maintain”, it’s just a permanent state when there is no mind momentum to disturb it. And once your mind loses its momentum, through a conscious letting go, it doesn’t regain this momentum – it’s not possible because life force becomes too strong to allow the mind to regain negative momentum, and the fact that you are “conscious” now ensures you are not lost in fueling negativity unconsciously.

The bottom line is don’t “try” to stay present, don’t try to be positive, don’t try to be happy – rather just let go of these efforts in the mind, and allow the mind momentum to ebb away so that you can come to your natural state of permanent inner wholeness. In this place you are always at home with the moment, you are always totally aligned with the Now of life, you are always at peace within, your happiness is not dependent on anything it’s just your natural state, and by happiness I don’t mean that you will be giggling all the time I just mean that you will feel resistance-free all the time in your body (a permanent alive peace), not as an effort or a “contrived” state, but as your natural state. And this doesn’t mean that you will end up like some hermit (unless that’s your calling, what you naturally desire), you will just be yourself, and live out your true potential fully in your creative expression and emotional expression.

Of course, I am not discounting that there is a time and place for some practices, especially when you are just starting out and growing in awareness – like the practice of watching the mind, or connecting with the inner stillness (space of being). But you should be careful not to get addicted to the practices, because all practices require the mind’s effort. Rather, when you sense that a practice has served its purpose of helping you become aware enough to have the courage to let go of the mind, just take up this invitation of letting go fully. You are not here to live a life of “practicing” stillness, there are better things to do in this physical life, better things to enjoy – when you let of the mind momentum, you come to this permanent place of inner wholeness, and then live out your life of physicality to the fullest of your expression/potential because you are now resistance free. So all of this process is in service to enjoying physicality from a place of your natural expression, it’s not something that’s supposed to detach/disconnect you from enjoying physicality.


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22 Comments

  1. pippi

    – kids don´t try this att home.

    – just do it ! 😀

  2. Dan

    You have a gift. Thank you for sharing it.

  3. GAry Guthrie

    What a great way to start the day…. I’m most grateful for these insights and pointers you have shared. I trust you are doing well my friend. I certainly am moving al0ng

    Regards,
    Gary

  4. annyta

    Thank you for your article,it helped me understand better what I’m going trough when I feel really down and hopeless that all this is gonna come to an end.I’m looking forward to put in practice your advices and not being haunted by my obsessive thoughts.you truly made me feel better.God bless.

  5. abet

    Sen you are on fire with these articles. Thank you so so much.

    ONe question, in the article you say that overexcitement means that the mind has a high momentum. My question is, is it possiblee for our natural expression to just be one of very really high energy and excited all the time? I fell like this is my natural expression but i want to make sure that it is not just an overexcitement.

    1. Sen Post author

      Abet, as you keep growing in awareness of your inner state, you can get an honest sense of any imbalance that may be present. It’s for you to sense if there is an imbalance, because only you can meet yourself 100%, no-one else can know your inner state of being. People who have a dominant joy dimension in their brain are usually quite excitable, and their excitement can go out of balance if there is a lack of awareness, this can cause an enervation in the body which usually responds by going into a fatigue phase now and then. Bring an awareness within and sense if this over-excitement feels aligned, or if it feels imbalanced – if it feels aligned it’s fine, if it feels imbalanced you need to bring some inner stability.

  6. rafael

    sen, this “practice” of not doing anything and just letting things be without trying to solve things. Isn’t this what most people do anyways when they are unconsciously lost in the mind? They just let their mind take them wherever without analyzing things to trying to solve why their unhappy. If this was the case I think everyone would be enlightened according to your logic

    1. Sen Post author

      Rafael, to let go of the mind requires “awareness”, and it connects you with a deeper intelligence of the space of being, this is what allows for aligned/enlightened living. The other state of being lost in the mind momentum is directly the reason for most imbalanced behaviors, a sleep state is not an enlightened state. The practice of not doing anything is just a temporary practice to grow in awareness, where you sit and let go of the mind for a while so that you can connect with the space of being – it’s not a practice that you carry on doing for a lifetime. This practice allows you to gain stability in your awareness, and grounds you in the space of being – when this happens, a balance gets established in the mind, the suppressed negative energies get released and you get connected to the inner guidance/inspiration of your life-stream, after which you don’t need to keep doing any practice (in fact you naturally let go of practices) and you just a lead of a life aligned with your natural expression.

  7. Courtney P.

    You speak the truth!!

  8. Aimee

    I have read tons of books, listened to tapes, watched videos etc for a long time looking for the right technique or tool to quiet my mind and end the suffering that is to not be in the present moment and like you mention I dont ‘try” to be in the present moment, what I do is try to not be or think about the past or the future instead. The only times Ive felt at peace and completely in the present have been times of extreme happiness and bliss caused by other people or things outside of myself but most of the times my mind is “busy” even in the presence of other people and I feel I cant fully connect with them because Im not entirely “there”. Is meditation the best practice to achieve that peaceful state? what you describe here has become my life goal…then again that creates even more effort in my mind..I am willing to committ to the time needed to get there but I have to admit I am guilty of wanting instant gratification as well..

  9. Nikki

    Getting there! Thank you for this.

  10. Trueone

    Hi Sen,

    Could you please tell me how long everyday we should try to do the relaxed awareness method, half an hour or as much as we can throughout the day? Also can you give me the link to the artcile about the method?

    Thanks so much as always

    1. Sen Post author

      Trueone, you can start with 20-30 mins, but you may come to a point where you enjoy it so much that you feel like doing it more often. This practice allows your awareness to become more grounded, rather than being lost in the mind. From this platform of grounded awareness, you will feel stable enough to just let go, and be fully allowing of what arises. You can read these posts for the relevant insights

      http://www.calmdownmind.com/the-practice-of-relaxed-awareness/
      http://www.calmdownmind.com/what-does-staying-present-mean/

  11. Jenny

    Hi Sen –
    First let me just say how awesome I think you are for all the time you spend on this site and answering ALL the questions posted. It really is amazing that you never ask for anything in return and I really do appreciate you! I am going to start donating every time I post a question, because I feel you deserve it.
    Ok – so last night I had (what felt like) a complete emotional breakdown. I was sobbing and crying and acting a fool (it was quite embarrassing because my husband saw the whole thing – and I even at some points took it out on him – i apologized though and took responsibility eventually). I felt COMPLETELY out of control. All these thoughts kept popping up – like “i’m not good enough, he’s going to leave me for someone else, i don’t compare” and I have NO reason to feel this way. I kept saying to myself – just allow these feelings – get them out, but it was VERY intense. And I very much “reacted” and this is VERY out of character for me. I usually keep things to myself. Keep some self-control. I guess the root of this issue is I am feeling left out (he started a new business and it’s amazing! and i’m so proud of him…but I feel stuck in a job I dislike for now to help out with the $$ and he’s meeting all these amazing people, and I feel like I don’t measure up). Anyways…I guess I don’t really have a question. Just maybe some insight? Do you know anything about feminine and masculine energy? Could the feminine “wave of emotion” be carrying me away at this point? I guess I’m hating myself a bit for acting such a fool……(i guess I just need to accept these aspects of myself..??)
    Anyways…going to donate now. Thank you so much!

    1. Sen Post author

      Jenny, there are times, during the release, when there is a surge of emotions and low-vibration thoughts together and it can feel very overwhelming. The mind throws up all the fears, hatred and general negativity that it’s holding onto under the influence of the surge of negative energy that’s getting released. It takes a lot of stability in awareness to not get pulled in to the mind’s negativity at this point, and it’s totally fine if you got pulled into it – it just means the surge was too intense and overwhelming. The feminine mind has its own flavor of insecurities as does the male mind, in the end it’s all the same, it’s just negativity and it feels overwhelming when the mind has a momentum to it. But you seem to have a high awareness and you will be able to stay allowing of this release, and soon you will notice a huge reduction in the intensity of the emotion until they gradually come to a close to zero intensity. You don’t have to feel bad about how you acted out during this release, it’s totally human and normal, especially since it was just the mind acting up under the influence of the negative energy that was getting released. As your vibe keeps becoming free of these suppressed negative energies, you will sense your reality becoming more aligned with wholeness, and you will see yourself finding a joy in your expression, be it in the job or in your relationship.

  12. jenny

    Thank you SO much dear Sen. You have this special way about you that is so very comforting!! I very much appreciate you and am grateful for discovering your blog! Have a great day! 🙂

  13. Juls

    Hi Sen,

    Am new so thank you for this site its awesome! Relaxed awareness method? Is that the mind watching 20-30 minutes a day practice? So for this practice say for example if the mind produces negative thoughts about my relationship just let the mind do its thing and allow the intense feeling to occur as long as it has too? Is it ok to purposely think of negative situations to bring about the intense emotions to practice accepting the emotion so that in the longer run it will be less intense? Thank you.

  14. Jean-Claude

    Hello Sen,

    For the past 4 years, I have been experiencing a lot of imaginary negative thoughts. I see myself in all sorts of conflicts with others internally. THe thoughts sometimes become so intense that I start reacting out loud and talking to myself to the point of having others looked at me in weird manners. However, in reality i have a calm and stable life but i fail to enjoy the real life because of my inner thoughts. They put me in real misery.
    Now I am trying to practice the “Let go” method you imply. I try not to pay attention to any of the thoughts and completely ignore them untill they dissipate. I have been trying for 2 days now and I see improvement but I am still a long way from completion and freedom. Please advise.
    Thank you

    1. Sen Post author

      Jean, you will need to take your time with this process and gain more understanding about this process of allowing a release of the momentum of negativity in the mind/emotional-space. For one, it’s not about trying to “ignore” the mind out of fear but about allowing it to have its movement in your space of fearless awareness. A few posts that can provide insights on this process are

      http://www.calmdownmind.com/transition-from-unconscious-to-fully-conscious/
      http://www.calmdownmind.com/reaching-a-place-of-total-allowing/
      http://www.calmdownmind.com/why-do-we-fear-the-mind/
      http://www.calmdownmind.com/reducing-mind-momentum-is-the-key/

  15. leo

    Hi Sen,

    I have just recently come across your profound writings and i think they are absolutely fantastic. You make things a lot clearer. I think everyone especially appreciates the time you take to write back!
    Sen my main problem is slightly different. I get a strong “physical” sensations especially around my crown area . This is been going on for years now. It started as light sensations but now they are pretty much constantly there. Its like a tight hot tingling feeling/sensation on the top of my head. This has lead to tightness in the jaw and a kind of a strange energy around my nasal area. These sensations get more prominent and a lot worse in stressful situations and this in turn creates further anxiety within. Its gotten so bad that my skin is breaking out and i have recently been diagnosed with Psoriasis. I try to ignore them but they are there. Infact It gets worse and alot stronger when i try to be aware of them or try to ignore them. This in turn makes me more stressed out and it is really frustrating. Its like a vicious cycle. It seems i just can relax these days. This buildup of negative energy ( its what i call it ) has really affected my self image and confidence as well as focus. There are times when i cant even sleep at night. I try not to think about it but i cant really as its more a physical sensation rather than mental, its always there, as opposed to a thought, if that makes any sense to you.
    I really need some guidance from you as to how i can stay relaxed or how to deal with these senasations?

  16. Andrea

    Hi Sen,

    I’ve been having a very hard time sleeping as of late as a result of a very high mind/body momentum. It’s as if my awareness is impossibly glued to all my thoughts and energy movements and nothing I try or don’t try has helped to reduce this momentum. I realize that I’m using “allowing” as a technique to rid myself of all of these uncomfortable sensations and thoughts, but there are brief moments when I just get to a point where I do feel like I could simply let go of the mind. When this happens even for a fraction if a second, it’s as if I sabotage my own efforts and the resistance-based living starts anew. Do you think I need to keep developing my awareness even further, though I’m quite aware by now that I’m constantly lost in the mind? And what is that last missing piece to finally letting go once and for all? I feel as if I’m standing on the precipice, but am lacking the total courage needed to go any further. I’m trying very hard to understand what it means to be truly allowing (and perhaps that’s the problem) – could you provide any additional insights?

    Thank you again for your writings.

    1. Skywalker

      Hey Andrea, from what I’ve understood so far, your awareness increases regardless of what you do. As you become more aware, you’ll begin to notice more and more thought form activity and from my experiences so far, the intensity increases as well.

      Allowing was hard for me to understand at first, because my mind was always so hyper, so I didn’t really know if it was working. A phrase that’s helped me is “Don’t say no, don’t say yes to the thoughts, the answer is inbetween those. Just sit back and allow everything.”

      And remember – TRUE courage is allowing. Not resisting.

      Hope this helps 🙂

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