This week’s ” You Can Save the World:  Simple Actions You Can Take”

Stay in the present. Years ago, Ram Dass urged us to “be here now.” To be present in any moment, all you have to do is stop thinking–period. Stop thinking about what you did in the past–no replaying or regretting. Stop thinking about what you have to do in the future–no anticipating or worrying. Paradoxically, you must even stop thinking about everything right in front of you–no analyzing or judging.

Once you stop your thoughts, you become a still point in the middle of the storm. You open yourself to the flow of intuition and inspiration that can guide you in ways your rational mind simply cannot. Once you become quiet enough to hear that guidance, it will help you to recognize the course you should take to navigate your way through these shaking, quaking, and uncertain times.

Being present is a skill that you can learn with practice. Any activity can serve as an opportunity for that practice: walking, doing the dishes, driving, even answering your cell phone. The activity itself is not the practice: The practice comes from emptying the mind…while doing any activity. Some call this state “being.”