Staying in the Moment


Outline:

  • Spiritual Perspective on Time
  • Moments
  • The Past
  • The Present
  • The Future
  • God’s Sovereignty
  • How to Stay in the Moment
  • BONUS: Exercises To Help Release Stress


Spiritual Perspective on Time

  • God is the God of eternity: He existed from the beginning and will continue to exist for eternity.
  • God saw our unformed body even before the foundation of the world was set (Ephesians 1:4a; Psalm 139:15,16); In God’s eyes, we “existed” even though our bodies were not yet formed.
  • Because God is a spirit, and He made us as spiritual beings, we will all live eternally.
  • The difference is where we will live in eternity: In God’s presence, aka, heaven; or outside of His presence, aka, hell.

Moments

  • Each moment comes, and each moment ends.
  • There are moments we like/enjoy, and moments we dread/dislike/hate.
  • Moments do not last forever.
  • We can experience “long moments” and “shorter moments.”
  • All moments pass.

The Past

  • We have no control over the past, for the past is the past: The ship has sailed; the train has left the station – it is over and done with.
  • No one has invented a time machine for us to be able to go back in time to undo something that was already done.
  • We can only accept/embrace what took place in the past.
  • “Living in the past” can bring about regret or relive the glory that no longer is. In either case, we can be stuck with something we no longer have control over in the present.
  • We can learn from the past, knowing that “past performance is not a guarantee of future success.”

The Present

  • Emotionally speaking, all we have is the present.
  • Just this moment.
  • All moments come and all moments will pass.
  • There are good moments we would love to last forever, and bad moments we wish would quickly be gone.
  • This present moment can be fleeting, or it can feel long.
  • Just as we notice the present moment, it is already passing.
  • How long our present moment lasts depends on our mindset: Whether we accept and embrace the reality of the present moment.

The Future

  • The future is yet to come.
  • We cannot control the future: We can hope for a better future as we work hard in the present, but it’s not guaranteed to us.
  • God is in control of the future, not us. The adage: “Life happens when you make plans.”

God’s Sovereignty

  • God exists from eternity to eternity.
  • God created the universe and formed us.
  • God is the Author and Finisher of our lives.
  • God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent. 
  • God has us in the palms of His hands.
  • He loves us and is attentive to us.
  • He knew our every thought, every decision, every action, every movement, every moment, every day - even before one came into being. 


“You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. 5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me…7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:3-5, 7-16).


  • God causes all things to work together for our good (Romans 8:28).
  • God loves us deeply, fiercely, and passionately. So much so, that He gave His Only Son to die in our place on the cross, so we could be reconciled with Him.
  • “32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:32-35, 37-39).

How to Stay in the Moment

  • Acknowledge that God is in control.
  • Acknowledge all we have is this moment.
  • Embrace the present moment: All moments come, and all moments pass.
  • “Do not play the tape/do not press ‘rewind’” of the past, for we cannot undo it nor repeat it.
  • “Do not write the script” of the future, for we have no control over the it.
  • Enjoy the present moment, when it’s a good moment, knowing that it too will pass.
  • The quicker we embrace the present negative moment, the quicker the moment that we dislike/dread, would pass.
  • Positive Psychology believes that how optimistic one is, are made up of: 50% genetic predisposition, 10% circumstances, and 40% on the mindset one chooses to adopt. 
  • This last 40% can outdo the other 60% by adopting an optimistic mindset.
  • Adjust our expectations of this present situation: Embrace the good and the bad.
  • Choose to see the glass as half full vs half empty: What are the good aspects of each moment/situation/circumstance we can embrace.
  • It is good for us to “lick our wounds” when bad things happen. We need to make space and time for it. However, wallowing in the negative emotions can cause us to be stuck in the pit.
  • Suppression - intentionally denying or pushing away negative emotions - will lead to some sort of blowout.
  • Repression - our unconscious denies the negative emotions without us being aware of it - can lead to health problems.
  • Use the “Timer” method: Give ourselves an allotment of number of minutes each day we allow ourselves to feel our negative feelings. We start the timer as soon as we realize we’re feeling a negative emotion; We PAUSE the timer when the emotion passes; We continue with the routine until all our allotment for the day is used up for the day; We put aside these negative emotions, telling ourselves that we will have new allotment of time to indulge in them tomorrow.


https://linrathemeditationpoems.blogspot.com/2016/05/blog-post.html


Exercises To Help Release Stress:

  • Stresses trap adrenaline in our muscles. Three ways to release the trapped adrenaline are: 1) Laugh until our stomach hurts. 2) Have a good cry/sobbing fest. 3) Do physical activities until we feel exhausted.
  • “The Five, Four, Three, Two, One” – Find a comfortable spot and sit or lie down and observe: 5 Things we can see; 4 things we can touch; 3 things we can hear; 2 things we can smell; 1 emotion we feel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30VMIEmA114
  • “Box Breathing” – Draw a square box on our thigh or arm with an index finger: As we draw the first side of the square, we take in a deep breath and count to 5; We hold our breath as we draw the second side of the square, counting to 5; We slowly let out the breath as we draw the third side of the square, counting to 5; We hold our breath as we draw the final side of the square, counting to 5.
  • “Tensing and Releasing of Muscles” – Sit at the edge of a chair. As we slowly take in a deep breath, we scrunch up our face, tighten our arms and legs, extended and away from our body, making a fist with our hands and curling up our toes, making our body stiff. As we let out the breath slowly, we release our fists, forearms, and then our arms while at the same time we uncurl our toes, gently let down our legs to the ground and think of something that makes us happy, relax our face, breaking into a smile. One option: https://youtu.be/ClqPtWzozXs?si=kx1Sxu6hj9bzD0nS&t=69
  • “Tight Squeeze” – Take one hand and squeeze the opposite arm from the shoulder down each hand-width distance, progressively down the arm, ending in squeezing both of your hands as in a handshake. Now repeat the same thing using the other hand, squeezing the opposite arm.
  • “Squeeze Out Your Frustration” – Have someone you’re close to relationally, stand at similar height as you and squeeze the other’s ribcage as you give them a very tight hug: Have your arms extended around their rib cage and squeeze as tight and hard as the they can take, without hurting them. Take turn being the one to squeeze the other’s ribcage.
  • “The Tapping Method” – Gentle tapping of our meridian points can help release the pent-up stresses trapped in our body. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPqGjcxoPS8

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