The Power of 'Here' and 'Now'
Exploring a basic technique for bringing wholeness to our lives
Everything we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste happens here and now.1 What we store as historical memory or anticipate in the future also occurs in this moment. In other words, life is a string of moments so how we organize our moments greatly determines how satisfied and happy we are.
Through a technique called ‘the awareness continuum,’2 which essentially is a living meditation practice with all five senses engaged, we can develop a better sense of ourselves and our surroundings. As a result, we invariably become aware of and accept who we are at the deepest level and thereby become freer to express our authentic selves in accordance with the requirements of the situation. Living this contactfully can be deeply satisfying, as well as evoke compassion, trust, and faith in life itself.
If you would like to strengthen your responsiveness, I invite you to consider practicing the awareness continuum – beginning every sentence with “Now I am aware of…” or “Now I notice…” repeated continuously as long as you can. This may help you begin to ground your existence is three areas:
First, become aware of what you gather externally through your senses. This comprises your receptivity. Careful that you take note only of raw data, not what you are imagining or assuming.
Second, pay attention to what you register in your body as experience, kinesthetically and energetically.
Third, notice how you manipulate, organize, and affect your surroundings.
Pay careful attention and you will notice that all three spheres come together to give you the feeling of being a stable but ever changing, energetic human being who can surrender to the shifting inside, outside, and in-between as life moves towards its, ever increasingly, choice less completions. This is what is meant by being in ‘good contact’3 and good contact is a precursor for growth.
Can you imagine living with this ongoing awareness and trust in life?
Fritz Perls, founder of Gestalt therapy, urged people to “lose your mind and come to your senses!” More recently senior Gestalt therapist, Claudio Narranjo, recommended immediacy as the ideal for everyday living.
Gestalt therapy is based on the experimental present moment to serve this aim.
Good contact is the model of health in Gestalt therapy.
In other words, healthy functioning is the ability to attend flexibly to the figure that is most important to fulfilling our most pressing need at any given time. In essence, healthy living is the act of adjusting one’s behavior, naturally and flexibly, to the figure in awareness that most requires attending to.
For another example of this process consider this article. As I am writing, I realize that my lips are dry and my mouth is parched. I get up, pour a glass of water, and then return to writing. In response to my feeling of thirst, I shift my frame of awareness from my writing, to drinking water, and then back to my writing. The act of drinking water, satisfying my thirst, completes the Gestalt, and I am free to return to my work.
All this happens continuously and unconsciously. Figures emerge from the background (right-hemispheric, broad based attention), undergo reality testing (left-hemispheric, narrow focus), and then return to the background where they are either accepted into a new Gestalt or are rejected altogether (right-hemispheric attention). This process is known as ‘The McGilchrist Manoeuvre.’ I like to refer to it as ‘right-hemispheric widwifery.’
In contrast, unhealthy living results when one’s attention flits from one figure to the other without ever achieving wholeness. An easy example of this can be seen through our relationships with our phones. If we are working on something important and our phone rings, we can make a decision to ignore it for the moment, finish our work, and then call the person back later. If there is a deadline for our project, this may be the healthy choice. However, if we allow our attention to be divided each time our phone rings, we may never finish our project.