The present moment is the only time we own. We can only make a change in the present moment. We cannot change the past because it has already happened, and we can only change future outcomes by making adjustments in the present moment.

When we think nostalgically about the past, or wonder what the future will be like, we take ourselves out of the present moment.

From a pure thought standpoint, Abraham says that 17 seconds of pure, uncontradicted thought are necessary to create alignment. That kind of thought can only be accomplished in the present moment, and it is hard for most people to do because they get distracted. Thoughts of distraction always come from the future or the past.

The past and the future are associated with unproductive, negative emotions. Guilt is associated with the past. We feel guilty about things that have already happened, but we can't change them (not in the past, anyway). We worry about things that haven't happened yet, and don't have control over, except indirectly in the present moment.

Any time we feel guilt about the past and worry about the future, we take ourselves out of the present moment, and rob ourselves of the ability to be fully awake and effective in the now.

Meditation is the ultimate expression of being in the present moment.

Most people are not fully in the present moment, athletes call it "The Zone", Martial Artist call it "Mushin" (No Mind), Physicist call it "Zero Point", all of these are an ultra state of awareness of everything that is. It is experiencing this moment fully, an example: When my father used to spar six to eight of his high belts in a circle he said the experience was like time stretched out so while everything was a blur of fighters with him in the center of it all to him he had time to think of what was open where to move to next what needed to be blocked who he could strike where. He was in this ultra state of awareness in the present fully, because he convinced him self this is his life on the line, even though it was only sparing he convinced himself he can not let anyone score on him or he was dead. I was just watching a commercial for the Olympics, a speed skating guy said "When I am in "The Zone" I experience every thing like time stands still, I hear my heart beat and the breath of the skaters behind me, my blades on the ice." When I heard that advertisement I thought he is experiencing what my father my Karate instructor experienced but he is experiencing it flying around a skating ring at top speed!

I am reminded of Master Po telling Cain about the grass hopper by his foot just quietly hopping there, and Cain says, "Master how is you hear such things?" and Master Po answers, "Cain how is it you do not?" Kung Fu the television series.

I answered this question in another question-

How important is it to “live in the present moment,” and why? I believe this question may be a duplicate...but here is my answer from that question:

Living in the Moment is perhaps one of the hardest behaviors to acquire on one's spiritual journey. But at some point, you realize that this moment (whoosh- there it went!!!) is all I have! I do not have the future- it isn't here yet. I do not have the past; it's done and gone and is just a memory....

All we have is an never-ending stream of NOW.

Once you grasp this, your whole perspective changes. You find out quickly what is a waste of time, for example- worry? If you worry to the exclusion of everything, then you are wasting THIS moment, and a surprising number of moments-yet-to-come.

All of a sudden, (this happened to me yesterday) your granddaughter is plopped in your lap, and she wants your attention and love and you drop everything, and start to notice how precious this moment is, how fast she is growing, how easily she laughs, how beautiful all children are....She and I spent ten minutes looking at an old brooch I had in my jewelry box. It is two kitties, black, with rhinestone eyes. Lily loved it. She made the kitties dance, and eat, and I kissed the kitties, and she kissed the kitties...in other words, we lived in the moment, and when she went to bed, i realized that we had made a precious memory together.

What if I had just given her something to do, and gone on working on what I was doing when she came to see me? The moments would have been lost forever.

Now is where all of life "is at"!!! It is all you really have to work with. Do your best at making "now" count, and you will find that the past is wonderful, and the future will take care of itself.

New Year's Blessings to you all, Jai

Past = anger and sadness and resentment.

Future = worry and anxiety and unease.

Now = freedom

The moment is much more than we can comprehend because as soon as we think about it, that moment is the past. The past gone. The future does not exist and is also the past, in just a little time.

So all that really exists is the now moment. It really is a weird concept that we still have more to learn but in the simplest we can only truly identify with the present.

I think more often than not we don't live in the moment and therein lies the problem. When we don't live in the moment, we end up creating unnecessary suffering.

because in the moment is when you experiance and apply your free will!