Help with staying in the present

[Ankh]

Staying grounded is something that I've been struggling with in my life too. My presentation at Homecoming last year was more or less about this topic. I got some advices after that talk. I wish I would have written them all down, as I was so nervious afterwards, that I remembered only one. It was about being creative. To write, paint or dance/sing, whatever one finds interesting, but to "channel" that which is distracting you from the present moment back into that moment, so to speak, to manifest in the physical, or space/time that which makes your mind to wander off.

Another advice I found of great help is a session one Wanderer had with Q'uo, who adviced him to literally ground himself; by getting out in the nature, and especially connect with trees. I saw this session being posted here in the forum recently, but can't seem to find it for the moment.

Speaking about it more from my own experience, I discovered that meditation and contemplation make that which is distracting to come up from the deeper mind to the surface of your conscious, unveiled mind, and then - you can *see* it. And you might also get help to anchor yourself into the now, by small suggestions/tips that come up in your mind, during or after these sessions. Small things that you didn't see before, but which suddenly become visible. Things that you could do in your everyday life in order to stay present.

But you have to have the *will* to do it, to really, really wish to be present. And for me, the first step was this sudden discovery that I actually loved my little moments of "escaping the world". I loved to be there where I was, and I got annoyed when I was disturbed, or if something brought me back from my thoughts/day dreams/whatever back into this world. In this realization, my eyes turned into the present moment in order to see what was there that was so bad that I had to escape it all the time. I found a lot of things. That was the second step. To see all these things. The third step was to analyze these things, and work with them. Since I couldn't do something in order to escape the world, I didn't want to feel bad when I have to be present. So I had to take myself back from wherever I was, back to this present situation/moment; and start working with it...

The most magical moment happened in one meditation. I managed to quiet my mind, and turn my attention fully concentrated and focused to this present moment, and suddenly *everything* just got quiet... and there was this presence – of the *One Infinite Creator*... Afterwards I was also lucky to be able to quiet the mind even during the everyday activities, and *feel/listen to this everlasting presence of the Infinite One*. This is beyond words!

The method that I used is to attain the silence in the mind during meditation, but then *focus* it, or concentrate it on surroundings – not to escape into the deeper mind, or open the door to it, but to focus it in the now as it was. And then - it happened! This perception of this only now and the presence of the intelligent infinity/energy in it (<---- which to me seemed like the only now).

Another thing that is of extreme value in staying grounded is service to others. When you see the Creator in another mind/body/spirit complex, you wish to serve that other self because of the love that you have for the intelligent infinity. And then you realize that this other self doesn't need to be served in the way you think is good for him/her, but in the way *s/he* thinks is good for him/her. This keeps you really busy. This is very grounding.

With all this said, I still struggle with staying present, especially when there is too much noise, and other distractions, or when I am tired or have not been able to meditate. And the lessons of being patient, to not get irritated with the self, and frustrated because it's not possible for the moment, are still not fully learned yet.