MM#15:

A Projector In Your Mind

I like movies. I’ve always been a fan. In fact, I studied Media Arts and Design once upon a time in order to learn the craft of writing movie scripts.

So I appreciate the visual realm and often write with that in mind. I can see even now this concept:

Picture a projector running a film. This projector is in your mind. The film is your past. What do you see?

We all have this projector. We call it memory. We believe it serves us well, and in many ways it does. We remember how to tie our shoes, so we can easily perform that task again and again.

But what other memories do you replay on your inner projector that might not serve so well? Did you have an embarrassing moment? Perhaps you stood up on stage for a play and forgot your lines? Have you since had difficulty in ever trying that again?

This is but one example. I am sure that your own mind and your own memories can provide ample sources of situations and times in your own life. Situations and times that struck a powerful memory upon you that still impacts your life and your choices today.

Do you know what I mean?

You Are a Constant Witness To Your Past

I mean, maybe you’re not. I cannot say all people are a constant witness to their past. But I think I can safely say that most people are. It is part of how we form our vision of reality. We think that our past has meaning and pertinence in our lives.

But guess what? It really doesn’t.

The moment you are in has nothing to do with your past. Can you buy that, even for a moment?

The past is done and never will be again. All that stuff that has happened is over. And the moment you are in now is simply that. It is now.

Again, there are certain tasks we perform that we learned in our past: how to drive; how to cook a meal; how to operate our phone. But even the learning of those skills is in the past and not pertinent to now. All that matters is that now you are employing the skills you have.

Is this making sense?

Do You Allow Your Past To Override Your Present?

If you do, then you are really reliving the past, and not really living the present.

But my present is not the same as what happened back then, you may say.

Is that so?

Even though that new relationship may be a new person with different circumstances, are there not familiar ties to past relationships? Perhaps even more than you might want to admit? Are you reliving them in new ways?

Is your money situation the same, even though it’s different? Do you continue to struggle with the idea of money, simply because you always have and keep replaying the tape in your mind?

Again, there are endless examples and each will be uniquely your own, so I could not possibly know them nor take the time and depth to list them all. I simply hope to get your mind thinking about the possibilities.

When you pull up tapes or “film” from your past and replay them on the inner projector of your mind, you are coloring your present moment with moments in time that are done and over. You are allowing the past to infiltrate and influence the present.

This is likely to your detriment.

How To Live In the Present Moment Fully

What does it even mean to live fully in the present moment?

Well, I could describe it maybe, but you may as well benefit from the wise words of Eckhart Tolle who already wrote the book on that: “The Power of Now.”

To live fully in the present moment is to leave all the past behind. This might be a new concept for most people, who often walk around carrying the ties and baggage of their past like a proud symbol of who they are.

But who you are is ever and always will be only who you say you are now and how you represent that in the present moment.

This may be a new experience for many people, who are used to familiarity and repetition. Being fully present may mean meeting life in every moment as if it is completely new and unknown, which it really is. And to be fully present means responding to the moment of now with all possibilities available, not simply ones that were known and repeated from the past.

This is a great new adventure for most people.

But is it something you may want? Perhaps it isn’t. Maybe you like the way your life is going. But I have a hunch that there is something more you are seeking for, especially if you are reading this post and even more especially if you have made it this far.

Many people seek change in their lives but when the opportunity strikes they measure it against the past that they have known. And if it is too new it scares them and they run back to the past.

But wouldn’t it be liberating to run to the future? Not in the sense of expecting the future to be what you think it will be, for you cannot know that. But in the sense of allowing each and every moment to unfold towards a certain future that can be. To do this you must relinquish the projections of the past and let the present moment guide you every single moment you live.

This is the unknown realm for most people. This is why they cower and cringe and run backward. People want surety. But there really is no surety, even when you cling tightly to the past. The past is as unsure as the future.

But to allow the present to unfold, even if you are not sure, you may follow each passing moment in ways that have no ties to anything but the present. No repetitions of past mistakes. No redos of old regrets. Not even expectations of what you hope will come to be, based on past ideas of what it is you have wanted.

Just let each and every moment be. Exactly as it is. Perfectly present and eternally now.

I sense this is quite a larger conversation than at first I imagined when I began writing. I am sure there will be more on this topic. And I would also like to hear your feedback and comments to learn where you stand on it so far.

Thank you for reading.

 

Please comment below with feedback and thoughts. And share this provocative post with others to get them involved.

Blessings to you,

Matthew