Now What?

How often have you been faced with a situation or otherwise come to a place in your life and found yourself reflecting on how you got there, what led you to it, and even blaming yourself or others in your attempts to have it all figured out? If you are like me it seems rather natural to do these things; we humans are inquisitive and we like to think that a clear understanding of things that happen to us is important. 

Were you taught that hindsight is 20/20? With hindsight, we are told, we can plan better next time. Or, maybe, we can avoid that dastardly Being or others like him or her. If I don’t protect myself who will?! Experience is my teacher!

Law of Attraction challenges us to approach things a bit differently. Law of Attraction teaches that we must acknowledge that we are a vibrational Being with a vibrational attachment to the Universe. When we memorialize the past in hopes of altering the future all we really is ongoing attachment to the people, and places, and things that have served us poorly in the past. We bring their energy – their vibration – to our present moment and keep ourselves detached from what we say we would rather experience.

Our wonderings and analyses – every thought we give to understanding why or where we find ourselves today, even if under the guise of some greater good to avoid the same, or worse in the future – bring us vibrationally closer and closer to experiencing those very things once again as the future unfolds.

Thoughts become things, even unwanted things. Consciousness creates reality. Even unwanted reality. Our point of focus in this moment determines our point of attraction in the next moment. The thoughts we think and the vibrations we hold lay the foundation for what we experience in this moment and for what we will experience in the next.

Like attracts like. The vibration we hold in this moment is the vibration that replicates in the next.

When Jesus taught his followers to turn the other cheek against unwanted things he was not suggesting that they deny the existence of those things. He was asking his followers to move on, to let go, to take the bold (and maybe unpopular) stance that what happened even a moment ago was in the past and no longer had any power beyond the power given it by keeping the memories alive in the present moment. Instead, Jesus was challenging his followers to ask not, What happened? Or, What did I do wrong? Or, How could that person do that to me or how could I allow it? He was challenging them to shift the focus to a new and perhaps uncomfortable question: Now what? And to do so as quickly as possible.

These simple words — Now what — instantly shift our vibration from the burden of influence of the past to anticipation of a new moment, a new reality, a new beginning, as the moment comes together and lays the groundwork to influence how the future unfolds. It allows us to be the sole determinant of what happens next, and next, and next, regardless of, or perhaps in spite of, the past. Now what? is probably the most empowering response to any situation that would otherwise take you vibrationally lower and lower and lead to repetition of the past.

Hindsight may be 20/20 but it is also the key to reliving in this moment, and building a future upon, a past that you have dutifully and probably with good intention remembered in all its gory detail in your efforts to work so hard to resolve.

Do you know anyone caught in a cycle of unwanted upon unwanted upon unwanted things that seemingly never ends despite their resolve and hard work to prevent its continuing? As we live our life so our life unfolds.

In coaching sessions I use a variety of so-called Energy Psychology techniques to help undo the binds of remembering the past too clearly. We work to shift the emotional connection with the memories — a connection that is often strengthened by more traditional efforts to break it such as working hard to remember clearly under the guise of learning from experience. But simply shifting the point of focus to Now what? often provokes the same healing while teaching a powerful technique that can avoid similar attachments to the past going forward.

Is there something you would like to move beyond without the frustration and even pain of keeping its memory alive in hopes of avoiding a recurrence? Breathe in to your situation to center yourself in the here and then quickly shift your focus and ask yourself, Now what?

Then, make a list of everything that comes to mind – stream of consciousness style. Write every idea that comes to you without judgement or otherwise thinking about any of them. Just write down every idea.

Finally, go back and see which ideas feel like the most logical step(s) for moving forward. Which feel good in this moment and thus are a vibrational match to how you would like to feel in the next moment? Place your focus there and let the past take care of itself. It will – and without any unnecessary attachment by you.

Maybe ponder all this while taking a walk, such as at this beautiful labyrinth in Calistoga, California that my friend CJ and I recently enjoyed while on a wine tasting weekend in Napa!

With Blessings and Gratitude,
from Santa Fe, New Mexico
Mark