This article is about something of such profound and beautiful simplicity. We attempt to trigger your own realization of your ability to relieve absolutely any problem you can imagine. We wish to unearth the seed within you that is forever invulnerable to the problems of the material world. The pointers that we will use as a vehicle involve the realization of the present moment, the illusion of past and future and the controllable reality of your thought processes.

First, we would like to say relax. This is fun, freeing and peaceful. Give yourself the time and space to feel all that this teaching has to offer. Sit down in your favourite chair, perhaps with a mug of warm herbal tea. Seek to quieten your mind using your favourite meditation, or if you don't have one, feel the air entering and leaving your body.

Let us begin. As you are reading this article, can you still feel your breath? Can you feel the grain of the paper in your hand, or the smoothness of the mouse resting under your hand? Can you feel the temperature of the air on your face and the touch of the chair upon your back? Can you hear the wind caressing the walls of the building in which you reside? Are you fully present?

Your thoughts may now enter and say "Am I fully present? Hmm, I don't know, I think I am, but then again maybe I'm not" etc. Release any such thoughts by simply returning to the sensations in your body and senses. Touch on object close to you and feel the quality of the material without judging. Simply go to the feeling.

Notice how you can switch between two very distinct forms of consciousness, one involving thought and the other involving no thought. If this does not quite feel true for you yet, then play with it a bit longer. There is no rush. Enjoy the lesson that you are giving yourself. You may notice the massive difference in quality between the two types of consciousness, which again is to be enjoyed, and can serve as a reminder of when your thought processes are currently energized.

We are now going to use the mind as a tool. When you were in the state of no thought, i.e. when you were simply observing, did you have any problems? Your mind may well now remind you of all your "problems". What if you were able to spend your entire life in the state of no-thought? Would your problems still exist? What if when you faced one of your so called problems, you encountered it in the state of open aware perception? Your boss shouts at you and internally you listen to the tones in her voice, feel the aggression of her body, all without judgement. And when they have finished shouting, you sit back into your chair, which you feel pressing against your back. Next you feel the air entering and leaving your body. Would your problem still exist?

Return to this moment, as you continue to read this article, which we are so grateful for being able to provide. Return once again to the sensations in your body. Now let's acknowledge the existence of the "problems" existing in your mind. They seem so real and hard, and in a sense they are. It would be pointless to say that "they do not really exist, it's just an illusion", because they are there. They have an existence in this physical world because your thoughts have such an existence. However, notice how all of your problems are either a projection into the past, or into the future.

You may be worried about something you have already said or done, or about some major upcoming event that you are a central part of. It is impossible to experience a problem when you are focussed only on the present moment. Now it may be that when you are in the situation you are dreading you feel a sensation that the mind labels as pain. If when the pain arises you can concentrate your focus into the now and simply feel the pain without labelling it, then that is the end of suffering for you. If you bring enough vigilance to a challenging situation to stay conscious, you will realise that your problem was completely a creation of the mind.

Pain simply isn't a problem. Next time you stub your toe, rather than screaming out and thinking "Oh no - I've stubbed my toe", go silent and feel the sensation in your toe from within. Is it then a problem? No, of course not. Your new way of looking at a problem should be this: A problem is a decision by the mind that this should not be happening (or have happened). I am very happy for you if you can feel the freedom offered by this realization. Remember, you can choose to return to this moment at anytime by simply feeling, perceiving, being, and then pain is no longer a problem.

Returning to this moment - what does that mean? Surely you are always in this moment? This is true. You only ever experience this moment. As we proved above, you only ever experience the past and future in your thought processes. But what if I can't control my thoughts? You can. If you believe that you cannot control your thoughts then that is just another thought, as is the belief that you CAN control your thoughts. Instead of trying to convince yourself, again return to the sensations in your body, feel the sunlight on your skin, or the carpet beneath your feet. Listen to the cars rushing by or watch the bird fly across the sky. Be really whole. You will then KNOW what it means to say that past and future only exist in the mind. You won't need to understand it in language.

When you can feel pleasure without judging with the mind, and when you can feel pain without judging with the mind, you are free of problems. This is much simpler than you might currently believe. Feel the sensation rather than judging it. Be really whole in this moment and live without past or future. Realise that your thought processes do exist in reality, but only when you give your conscious energy to them. Life is to be experienced. That includes both pain and pleasure, the effects from which your true self is eternally immune. With love.