Choose what present you get
Illusion or reality is your choice
In my primary school and early high school years, I played basketball. My physical attributes then were a child version of now: relatively short, slim build and a bit uncoordinated. Big surprise: I wasn’t very good at basketball!
Actually, this was also the case for most sports, basketball was just my chosen place to learn about failure.
I learnt about failure a lot, with one exception. Free throws. One season my free throw percentage was 99%. OK, I wasn’t keeping the stats, but the point is I very rarely missed from the line.
Naturally, I missed (failed) a lot of shots to get to this point. But unlike any other aspect of the game, this one I managed to master.
To achieve this I analysed everything about taking a free throw. The weight of the ball in my arms. The angle of my arms. The placement of my hands and fingers on the ball. The power to put into the throw, and trajectory to throw it at. I got to a point where I could just feel it, no need to think about it. I could feel my way to making a shot.
By paying full attention to every aspect of taking a free throw, practising until free throws were just natural, and being fully present in the moment when taking a shot, I didn’t miss. In the end I only ever missed when that last part, being present, was missing.
I also practised being present, so even getting into the moment to take a free throw was a quick mindset shift. At the time, I didn’t realise I was practising mindfulness. It’s only recently I recalled my free-throwing prowess and realised what I’d been doing back on the court.
Oh, how I wish I’d held on to that skill!!!
Not the free throws, I couldn’t care much for them anymore. The mindset thing to instantly get fully present in the moment. Over the years of my life, like anyone else, life has got more complicated. More to think about, more to get distracted by, more to worry about. The nature of my mind has become increasingly clouded, and being fully present in any moment often seems impossible.
The truth is though, “returning” to the present moment is mind-bogglingly simple. Because the only moment you are ever in, is the present one. There is nothing to return to. You are already present. Even if you’re replaying the past or forecasting the future, you are doing it now.
Alan Watts puts it this way1:
“…there is no way at all of having your mind anywhere else but in the present moment. Because even when you think about the past or the future you’re doing it now, aren’t you?”
The only difference is we are either focusing our attention on what is actually happening around us now, or we are focusing on an illusion of the past or future (and sometimes an illusion of what’s happening now… but who doesn’t like daydreaming). The question worth asking yourself when doing the latter is, ‘is this constructive and serving my current task?’
All my memories shared above about my past basketball endeavours were happening in my mind at the moment I wrote about them. This was useful in the circumstances. However, suppose I was reliving the bliss of a swish during a conversation with my wife about our plans for the day. That’s not so useful (and could lead to an argument about being present in the moment!).
To go back to the free throws, when I drew a foul while taking a shot, and stepped up to the line to take the free throw, I put my entire attention on that task. I put aside thoughts on the foul that led to it, any thought of missing the shot, attempts by the opposing team to distract me. Anything that wasn’t about taking the shot was put aside. I now understand that this required a deliberate decision.
You’re constantly facing a choice: to put your attention on the reality of the present moment, or on some illusion you’re having within it. The latter can be completely OK, especially if it’s being done to aid completion of a task in the present moment. It’s also OK to daydream, to let your mind wander in a state of purposelessness, from time to time. So long as you’re aware you’re doing it.
The key is remaining aware of where your attention is and where it needs to be, based on the reality of any given moment, then focusing on what matters in that moment.
Moment by moment, whatever choice you make, do it on purpose.
Now, please make a deliberate choice to leave a comment and share about a time making a choice to be present really helped you. I’d love to hear about it!
Cover image: Photo by pch.vector on Freepik
I couldn’t find the name of the seminar where he states this, but see Alan Watts Purposelessness Taoism on YouTube (6 minutes in).
When I was younger I used to have the OCD of compulsive thinking and at one stage I was obsessed with the question of 'How can I prompt myself that I am thinking about 'something' right now', my thought at the time was if I was aware that I was thinking about something then I was not really thinking about that 'something' but only the awareness of that thinking and vice versa'...I never understood why I was obsessed with those kind of unexplainable questions, in the hindsight I realise it may have something to do with the concept of mindfulness...