I've also read Eckhart's Power of Now. Great book. Part of my answer will probably come from that book. Here's the thing, you DON'T know you're the now. It's impossible because.. you can only live in the now. When people say "stop living in the past", it's really your mind that's thinking back about memories...

You may not know 100% if you're living in the NOW, but you can tell if you're living in the past (clinging/reliving on the past memories) or the future (clinging on dreams and goals far from your grasp).

Look at mother nature. We can agree that it lives in the now right? Do you think it cares about past memories or the future? Does the seed grow because it has a "goal" of being a big tree? (I remember this from the book) No. It's growing naturally because it's living in the now, natural and flexible. Live with nature, I believe you'll just naturally just live in the now without needing to read books or anything... just like nature itself!

I've been having quite a lot of coincidences lately. The book I have been currently reading at a slow and steady pace for the last month or so just happens to be called "The Power of Now."

It's funny because I've had a lot of everyday average things in my life answered recently just by reading this book. Almost every paragraph has some type of definition of the "Now" moment.

For instance, I'll copy the following section that I left off from last. I was just about to read this part so I didn't scan through the book for something good, this was the next part I was about to read.

Have Deep Roots Within

The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your inner body - to feel it at all times. This will rapidly deepen and transform your life. The more consciousness you direct into the inner body, the higher its vibrational frequency becomes, much like a light that grows brighter as you turn up the dimmer switch and so increase the flow of electricity. At this higher energy level, negativity cannot affect you anymore, and you tend to attract new circumstances that reflect this higher frequency. If you keep your attention in the body as much as possible, you will be anchored in the Now. You won't lose yourself in the external world, and you won' t lose yourself in your mind. Thoughts and emotions, fears and desires, may still be there to some extent, but they won't take you over.

Please examine where your attention is at this moment. You are listening to me, or you are reading these words in a book. That is the focus of your attention. You are also peripherally aware of your surroundings, other people, and so on. Furthermore, there may be some mind activity around what you are hearing or reading, some mental commentary. Yet there is no need for any of this to absorb all your attention. See if you can be in touch with your inner body at the same time. Keep some of your attention within. Don' t let it all flow out. Feel your whole body from within, as a single field of energy. It is almost as if you were listening or reading with your whole body. Let this be your practice in the days and weeks to come.

Do not give all your attention away to the mind and the external world. By all means focus on what you are doing, but feel the inner body at the same time whenever possible. Stay rooted within. Then observe how this changes your state of consciousness and the quality of what you are doing.

Whenever you are waiting, wherever it may be, use that time to feel the inner body. In this way, traffic jams and line-ups become very enjoyable. Instead of mentally projecting yourself away from the Now, go more deeply into the Now by going more deeply into the body. The art of inner-body awareness will develop into a completely new way of living, a state of permanent connectedness with Being, and will add a depth to your life that you have never known before. It is easy to stay present as the observer of your mind when you are deeply rooted within your body. No matter what happens on the outside, nothing can shake you anymore.

Even if it was star date 7444, you would still be in the Now moment at the time you were thinking back. It's as simple as not being in the future or the past in your mind. If you are looking at a tree in this very moment and enjoying all the aspects of the beautiful tree with nothing else swirling around in your head, that is the now moment.

Hi Tom,

Realizing that it's always now is one of the most self-empowering things you can do for yourself. The beauty of training your mind to be aware of and to recognize the now moment is that you don't need any special teachers or tools to help you to remember to stay focused in the present; you only need to use your own mind and that's available to you 24/7 :)

In the beginning it can be difficult to stay focused in the present moment, due to our habit of thinking about the past, including past regret concerning 'how things might have been.' and thinking of the future, including worry and doubt (fear) about 'how things will be.' The important thing to remember here is that that kind of thinking is habitual. Once you recognize your habit of thought and you actually want to and intend to change it, you can :)

How do I know I am in the Now?

The place to start is by recognizing and thus realizing that whenever and wherever you are, it is now. Whenever you ask someone: ‘do you know the time?’ or you look at your watch to find out what time it is, remind yourself that while it may be Monday at 3pm or Friday at 7am it’s still now. In other words it’s not not now; there will never be a time nor a place when it’s not now.

The above paragraph should be enough for you to realize that you are and we all are, always in the now. So really, once we’ve remembered this fact, then we naturally desire to stay focused in the now moment more often, to actually be present.

Think of it this way: if your awareness is anywhere other than in the present, and all of the things, places and people that you desire to experience only exist in the present; then you’re out of sync with that which you say you desire. Put another way: if in your mind, you are anywhere other than in the present, then all of the things you’ve previously asked for, which can only be found in the present, will remain invisible to you.

And then you’ll continue to doubt whatever manifesting process you’re using and perhaps criticize and blame it’s author and all the while, your presents are right there in front of you; in the present! Make sense?

If this is the now how do I stay in it most of the time.

So the way to stay more focused in the present moment of now, is simply to train your mind to notice the now moment that’s in front of you at all times and in all places. It’s really that simple :)

I’ll leave you with a mantra that came through to me a couple of years ago. I often use it as a re-minder to be aware that it's always now:

Notice Me – I’m Always There – Every When – Every Where

PS. Here are a few authors/teachers/people that I’m aware of, who talk about presence:
J. Krishnamurti - Eckhart Tolle - Mooji.

How do you know “this” is the now? Consider that consciousness cannot exist in the past or in the future. It can only exist in “this moment”, but only always. In fact the past and the future can only exist within consciousness and never the other way around. Yes, ones consciousness can be filled with the past by focusing on a past event so completely that you lose awareness of the present. We’ve all had those moments when we find ourselves staring off in the distance completely lost in a thought of another time. But even then, know this… you can only do that “right now”. You can’t ponder the past 5 minutes ago. You can’t imagine the future 5 minutes from now. Neither actually exists. The past and the future are really just mental concepts held in place by memory or imagination, both of which only exist within consciousness. No matter what impressions of the past or the future you fill your consciousness with, you can only do that right now. And even if you question if this is “the now” or another time, you can only ask that question… right now, in this moment.

You want to go further? I’ll take a chance here.

“Now”, consider that consciousness has no dimensions. It’s much like space. Either is only defined by the objects that exist within them. The walls around you define the space your body occupies. Remove the walls and how big is that space now? Same space, unlimited size. Even your body exists in this dimensionless space and is “perceived” by your dimensionless consciousness. Remove all objects totally from consciousness or from space, and all you have left is “Infinity”. No points of reference, no dimensions and… TADA! No Time. Nothing but awareness in the present moment… but only always.

you always are. The past is a memory, the future is a longing or wish, now here because u feel it, u are in it always. ( yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that is why it is called the present ) ;-)

love n light,

rob

"I don't have time to read it" THAT IS YOUR POWER OF NOW

"Thank God I'm busy these days" THAT IS YOUR POWER OF NOW

And it will be so until it changes in your mind within NOW.

it may be that the now
is ever changing as we are,
after birth ones awareness
is mainly without sight

while learning to negotiate
locomotion was i ever
not in the now

then in school while daydreaming
with sights outside the window,
i choose that instead of study

where is it that we focus
where our values dirve choice
or where i direct with will

Look at the last question of the book ;-).

It's like being in love, you feel it, you know it. It's not a thing you can think about.