Andrew Townsend The How of Now

The How of Now is a book about living in the present moment. Living in the present moment is essential for our well-being. When we practice living in the moment, we become centered and mindful, appreciating each experience as it unfolds. Living in the present moment means being fully aware of what is happening right Here and right Now, without getting caught up in thoughts about the past or worries about the future. By fully engaging with what's happening in the present moment, we reduce stress, anxiety, fear, and self-doubt. When we are able to let go of regrets about the past and worries about the future, we create mental space for clarity and contentment. The How of Now not only addresses what living in the present moment means, but more importantly it provides the reader with more than two-dozen specific and highly effective practices for living in the present moment. The How of Now is literally a "how to" manual that contains detailed instructions for being mindful and living in the present moment. In this regard, The How of Now differs from other books on mindfulness and living in the present moment. The How of Now includes a wider array of mindfulness tools and techniques than other books and also provides more in-depth information on how to employ those tools and techniques. The specific practices for living in the present moment contained within The How of Now include paying attention to the Here and Now, mindful breathing, mindful awareness of your thoughts, mindful walking, mindful eating, mindful sleeping, cultivating body awareness, engaging in mind/body exercises, cultivating gratitude, practicing the four Brahma Viharas, deep compassionate listening, engaging in silence, the practice of forest therapy, letting go, learning how to flow, and living authentically. Additionally, the penultimate chapter provides instructions for engaging in three powerful yet easy to practice seated meditation techniques: the Taoist method of sitting and forgetting; the Zen Buddhist practice of zazen; and a mantra meditation similar to the popular Transcendental Meditation™ technique. These three methods of seated meditation progressively enable the meditator to quiet the monkey mind, encounter moments of silence during meditation, and ultimately experience periods of pure consciousness in which the mirror of the mind reflects clearly the true nature of the self. As an added bonus, the final chapter of the book lays out clearly and unambiguously the three stages of enlightenment: Cosmic Consciousness, Unity Consciousness, and Supreme Consciousness. This chapter describes the pathway that leads from the experience of pure consciousness during seated meditation, bringing pure consciousness into activity, subsequently dissolving the ego to reach the state of nonduality, and concluding with merging personal consciousness into universal consciousness to attain the state of Supreme Consciousness. Despite the aspirational nature of the practices presented in the book, especially in the final chapters, the central premise of this book is that you don't need to be an enlightened person to begin to live authentically in the present moment. If you are willing to employ the practices presented in The How of Now, including powerful seated meditation practices included at the end of the book, it is completely within your power to live authentically in the present moment, to discover your true self, and to uncover the hidden essence of ultimate reality.