The idea of being in the moment is essential to the spiritual Path. The moment is where life is actually taking place, so being there is crucial to making conscious choices. Successful people have learned the discipline of focusing in the present in order to help them make timely and appropriate decisions.

The practice is also referred to as being in the now, or being present. The emphasis is usually on the concept of the mental discipline of concentration. The recognition of obstacles and distractions to the quest for inner peace enables us to assign them a lower priority in our minds. We acknowledge them while refraining from giving them any more attention than necessary. Once we are so focused, we can just be.

Consciousness of Awia/Awya, All Who I Am/All Who You Are, is fundamental to the spiritual Path. The acronym ?Awia? is synonymous with my Higher Self; the acronym ?Awya? means your Higher Self. Awia is the essence of me that transcends my mind, my body, and my emotions. I am those three but I am so much more. From Awia come my deepest insights and most honest assimilation of Experience.

The quote I presented at the start of this article came as inspiration from Awia, and is what resulted in me adopting the expression being in Moment, as contrasted with being in the moment. The latter phrase implies that there is a separate person who is doing the practice, but Reality is that there is just Moment. You are One with it. The multiplicity or separation that people experience from day to day is not reflective of Reality. It is simply ?Moment?. For me, this equals Awareness of Presence, or Being. I do not mean simply being focused on a physical activity or experience in present time, where one can merely work towards being in Moment by focusing intently on current activities. That is not the end of the process; rather, it is the beginning. If this practice only had to do with physical experiences, wouldn't the perception of an almost endless multiplicity of moments be an accurate representation?

In contrast, we are dealing here with a different concept entirely. Understanding this fully requires an examination of one's own mental and emotional activity. How much of your thought and emotional energy is spent on either the past or the future? Once you realize how much of your time and energy is involved in something other than Moment, and once you realize that what you think and feel is entirely up to you, you will have the key to being in Moment.

If you are not in Moment, where are you? You are in illusion; the mental and/or emotional application of limiting parameters or distinguishing characteristics to Experience. Some may describe it as being in separation, or separation consciousness. In religion, it is known as being lost; literally it means you have lost touch with Reality, or are lost in separation. When you are in separation consciousness, you begin responding to Experience as though separation were Reality, and the perception that you are separate from what you need results in problems needing solutions. Being in illusion should not be thought of as the same as being in error, it is simply not being in Moment.

In my Experience, being in Moment is a state of Awareness in which one does not think or feel anything, or about anything, in particular. Attention is focused on your presence, or being, and you are completely Aware of your body, all sensations of the body, your surroundings, your emotional state, and your mental state, all without any thought or emotions about it at all. You are not engaged in trying to divide Experience into many parts. You are Aware of Awareness, of your own presence or being. You are simply in a state of intense Awareness in Moment.

I have chosen to capitalize Moment, as opposed to moments. My definition of that term indicates the least dimensional complexity while my utilization of the lower case refers to a definition that indicates deep dimensional complexity. In this context, dimensional complexity means many different varieties pertaining to the word in question, and least complexity means closest to Unity, or One. Perception of multiplicity happens by noting differences in characteristics, or parameters, in order to distinguish each part from the other. These parameters or characteristics are values along each of the dimensions of the attribute in question. So ?dimensional complexity? is determined by the number of distinguishing values, thus arriving at the perception of many rather than One.

To return to the nature of being in Moment, examine your mind (thought center) and heart (emotion center). When you find yourself in the future, the past, or any other imaginary scenario via your thoughts or emotional responses, you are no longer in Moment, but in illusion. Reality is that any thoughts or emotions you have are not your Essence, or presence of Being. They are imaginary.

Some people might consider being in Moment to be a meditative state. While that is acceptable, the object here is not to label, but to do. This state can be very tranquilizing and one might lose track of time quickly. Consciousness of time as increments, distinguished one from another by characteristic differences, is an example of being in illusion. Time is perceived as simultaneous Unity when in Moment.

Once you are accustomed to what Moment is, you will notice immediately when you are in illusion instead because of the distinct perceptual difference between consciousness of illusion and Awareness in Moment. Consciousness of illusion is like watching a movie; you may get intellectually and emotionally involved, but you are not really in it. Often, there is a sense of not giving yourself to Experience, but maintaining yourself apart from it, at some emotional and/or mental distance.

Awareness in Moment means you are Experiencing fully, not distracted by some mental or emotional imaginary evaluation of Experience. You Experience totally and become one with it. This idea of becoming (actually being) one with Experience describes being in Moment. You withhold nothing of yourself; you do not keep parts of yourself away because, for example, you might feel hurt if you allow those parts to Experience in Moment. Look at the idea of having parts to yourself vs. being just You. You will notice the similarities to living in moments vs. being in Moment.

Even the expression, Experience in Moment, is a misnomer, because the true objective is what can be described more accurately as you experiencing yourself. In truth, all your Experience is you experiencing yourself because Experience takes place within you. It is you. It is consciousness as a function of Awareness.

The challenge is here because you may not want to experience all of yourself. Some ?parts? of yourself may be embarrassing or frightening to you. They may cause you to deny that they are part of you. Many mental health difficulties are rooted in beliefs that a part of a person is bad, inadequate, unsatisfactory, evil or wrong. The criticized person may believe their personal evaluation is accurate, sometimes offering their therapist's professional evaluation as evidence. Crucial to mental, emotional, and spiritual health is the recognition that a person must embrace and resolve all self-perceptions so life can be experienced fully and unconditionally.