Is there anything beyond the physical world that we see all around us?
We all have thousands of thoughts every day. I have thoughts chasing around my head all day every day. Does it matter what we think as thoughts are only in our head and cannot directly affect anyone or anything?
What we think certainly affects our actions and our behaviour will have an effect on other people. One of the fashions of the moment is mindfulness, which is described as “bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment”. Many people seem to think that this is a good idea.
The Bible gives very similar advice – Matthew 6:34 states “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own”.
This verse is telling us to live in the present moment and not to worry about what has happened in the past or might happen in the future. We can only ever make decisions in the present moment, and every decision we make whether to have another cup of tea or whether to buy a paper, is made in the present moment.
Each decision we take is based on our life experience to date. I want to make the best decisions for me. In order to do this, I have to live in the present moment.
Bible verses like Matthew 6:34 really help me stay in the present moment.
I feel that I make better choices if I am not weighed down by fear for tomorrow or regret for yesterday. One word that has been used recently to describe living in the present moment is mindfulness.
Living in the present moment requires us to put all our focus on what we are doing at that moment in time, whether it is washing up, driving or watching the birds in the garden.
Giving our full awareness to the current moment also requires us to relinquish the emotional baggage that we all carry around with us.
Geoff Peck from Woosehill Church writing on behalf of Churches Together in Wokingham
