Being present and feeling bliss is the moment in which you are not thinking of anything else, hence the concept that we are already enlightened, is because what prevents enlightenment is living in thoughts of past or future, i.e., memories.

By being fully present in the very moment, we are no longer in memory and that gives a state of pure bliss by removing us from the thoughts which we worry about. The practices of meditation or anything in which you can put your entire concentration into a single point is the method of taking your mind from memories and putting it into the very present moment that provides a blissful experience which is the benefit of meditation or rather, the pleasure of meditation.

If we can truly focus long enough on a single point and stay out of memory long enough, then a much more profound experience can happen. What keeps us in memories? Fears, self centered egoistic desires, attachment to our human life and existence, anything that happens to us as a human being, what we fear or desire to happen, to avoid pain and seek pleasure, which sets in motion a chain of events of conditions and circumstances related to the item we are preoccupied with.

The question is how to get the mind to be so fully present long enough for the experience to occur. The analogy is if you are holding a ball or other small object with your palm facing down at shoulder height, and you let it fall, then as it is falling, quickly catch it again before it hits the ground.

This is what our mind is like when we do achieve a certain level of concentration, we can get the feeling of freedom of having let go, but we so quickly return to our habitual thoughts that we never actually complete the journey for the mind to attain complete rest.

As the ball falls through the air, that is the length of the experience. But because we catch it before it hits the ground, it never stops moving. We lift it back up again and repeat the movement, never completing the journey and stop moving. The mind never rests on the firm foundation of the ground, or rather our own true nature, the ultimate end of our seeking.

We must do this with our mind, to be able to lay it to rest, let it fall all the way down to total stillness without catching it with other thoughts which keep it moving.

This is where finding a person who you so deeply love and trust allows you to let your whole body and mind completely melt and rest without any mental movement by being so totally focused on your union. Even a hug is capable of achieving that same experience of total relaxation and release of all physical tension, if there are no other thoughts than the hug.

Other practices are certain breathing techniques, Tai Chi or Qi Gong if done correctly, are methods which require total mental focus and relaxation of the body such that the mind can be released from its habitual thoughts long enough to reach a profound state of inner peace and calm, which if maintained long enough brings a more profound experience of enlightenment. This then brings the experience of being truly awake and present. Being fully awake is what the word, ‘Buddha’ means. Buddha means, the awakened one. Thus enlightened means awake.

The method to achieve this requires the acceptance of the futility or irrelevance of everything in life. The ultimate irrelevance of everything, but that can be depressing because if that is true, there is no point or purpose to life. This is the danger of following a path towards enlightenment, is that it sounds contradictory and most definitely counter productive if a person does not understand how life can be totally pointless and yet extremely valuable at the very same time.

A WORLD OF OPPOSITES

It is in knowing that all things exist only because their opposite exists. This is a world of duality. Hot cannot exist without there being cold. It takes a lot of contemplation to comprehend the concept of the law of opposites that everything must have its opposite in this world. The great importance of things is on one end of the scale, the total irrelevance is the polar opposite, thus both must exist simultaneously for every subject.

The relevance has to do with your human existence, the irrelevance is the reality of the eventual end with the passing of time, even it that is hundreds or thousands of years. Of course we are not speaking of the great masters throughout history, Da Vinci, Mozart or the inventors of fire and the wheel who have given society great advancements. We are speaking of us, the average people, and there are more of us than there are geniuses. We are the ones I am writing for.

Every normal person has a life which we will live, and hopefully attain a great state of bliss and happiness. A friend of mine who was a judge for 30 years said that he has discovered something about humanity. All the crimes are committed by 5% of the people, another 5% make the world go round, the other 90% just eat the food. If you are in the 90% who exist and your life does not change the world in any way that will alter the future of humanity, you may be mistaken.

One by one our lives become better and thus in the very long term have a beneficial effect on humanity. If enough of the 90% become more awake it is inevitable that there will be a long term alteration of humanity.

Consider this, we as individuals are going to die, but as a species, humanity will continue. By simply bringing yourself to a state of balance, happiness and freedom, you will inevitably influence others in this way, and that is how the one who just eats the food becomes a vital part of the evolution of humanity as a whole. This happens by realizing that everything is very important in our life, the relative reality. At the same time remember the absolute reality is that ultimately everything is irrelevant.

“Eventually, everything become irrelevant”

With this understanding of the eventual end, we can release our fears and enjoy what we do have and with this positive attitude many better things will come into our life.

In financial terms, the Present Value refers to the total amount that a series of future payments is worth at the present time. To calculate this value, you use the PV function which returns the present value of an investment.

Syntax of the PV function is as follows:

=PV(rate,nper,pmt,[fv],[type])

Rate refers to the interest rate per period, usually per annum. For example, if you invest in a fund, such as an education fund for your kids and the fund pays 10 percent annual interest rate with monthly payments, your interest rate per month is 10%/12, or 0.83%. You would enter 0.83%, or 0.0083, into the formula as the rate.

Nper is the total number of payment periods in an annuity. For example, if investment is over a 10 year period, and makes monthly payments, your investment has 10*12 (or 120) periods. Then enter 120 into the formula for nper.

Pmt is the fixed contribution payment you need to make each period. This amount cannot change over the life of the investment. If pmt is omitted, you must include the fv argument.

The fv and type arguments are optional arguments in the function (indicated by the square brackets). The fv argument is the future value or balance that you want to have after making your last payment. If this value is omitted, Excel assumes a future value of zero (0).

The type argument indicates whether the payment is made at the beginning or end of the period: Enter 0 (or omit the type argument) when the payment is made at the end of the period and use 1 when it is made at the beginning of the period.

Let’s assume you have the followings:

Interest Rate (Rate) is 10%

Total number of payment periods (nper) is 10 years or 12*10

Fixed contribution payment you need to make is $500 per month.

Then the formula would look like:

=PV(10%/12,10*12,500,,0)

And it produces a result of -$37,835.58

Excel produces a negative result because it represents money that you would pay, an outgoing cash flow.

What the result means is that if you’re asked to pay an up-front amount that is less that the present value, it’s a good deal. If this up-front amount is more than the present value, you should choose to pay an annuity or a series of payment. This is because the present value of the annuity, -$37,835.58 in this case, is less than what you are asked to pay.

Let’s look at another example and say you’re purchasing a vehicle. You have 2 choices to finance your purchase. You can either pay up-front which cost you $20,000. You can also finance the purchase of your car by paying $400 per month for 5 years at an interest rate of 10%.

To compare the true cost of this purchase, you need to compare the present value of the monthly payments to the $20,000 you would pay today. The formula in this case would look like:

=PV(10%/12,5*12,400,,0)

Which gives a result of -$18,826.15

This means paying $400 per month for 5 years is a better deal as you would be $1,173.85 ($20,000 – $18,826.15) better off.

How is a job interview, an important sales call, or a big presentation just like when your turn comes in Olympic Competition? In all of these, your future hinges on how well you perform in the next few minutes. How can you increase your chances of success?

As any Olympic Athlete will tell you – it’s mostly about the work you do to prepare yourself. When it comes to that job interview, sales call, etc., it’s really no different. So, how to be prepared?

Of course it’s essential that your preparation include planning what you’ll say. However, studies show that words make up only 7% of the essence of communication. So, if you primarily prepare what you plan to say, you’ve missed out on preparing 93% of your communication. What is this other 93%? It’s your body language and your tonality. That’s right, more than 90% of the meaning of your message is conveyed not by your words, but by your body language and tone. This is what will make or break your interview. And how much time do you typically spend preparing the effectiveness of these elements of your communication? If you’re like most people, almost none.

Body language and tonality are mostly subconscious communication elements. That is, we are not consciously thinking about, paying attention to and choosing these moment by moment while we communicate. They are shaped by our mood, our inner voice, our state of being, at a subconscious level.

As the athletes know, winning is mostly a mental game. That is, believing, and actually being congruent behind your belief, are key. It’s no different in communication. To be an effective communicator, to have your tonality and body language supporting your message and your objective, is an inner, mental game.

So, how do you make yourself a winner in your “games”? How can you prepare way beyond your “script” and ensure that you get the gold – the job offer, the sale, the result you were hoping for?

Belief – The #1 Essential Winning Strategy

When you know you are the right person for the job, or that your offer can really help this person, then your body language and your tonality will naturally and powerfully communicate this. If you can’t easily visualize the outcome you desire as if it’s already happened, and see it unfolding that way in your inner view, chances are your tone of voice and your body language will reveal your doubt. Despite all the effort you put into carefully designing what you’ll say, the message you communicate will be “I’m not the right one for this job,” or “You probably don’t want to buy this.”

Imagination – Your Best Tool

To get congruent so that all of your communication elements – words, tone and body language – are projecting what you want to get across, you can use the amazing power of ….. your imagination.

If you were about to get on stage to give the performance of your life, wouldn’t you rehearse? Well – how about it? Set aside time and rehearse, much as you would if you were about to do a theatrical performance. Imagine it as vividly as you can, including the surroundings, what you are wearing, what the other person or people are like, what they say, and what you say. Imagine feeling strong and confident. Imagine it all the way through, from the very beginning, all the way to “winning” and the feelings of triumph and jubilation that accompany the win.

Your Inner Doubter Can Be Your Best Ally

Unlike a pre-scripted performance, you’ll also want to rehearse how you will deal with any “curve balls” they may throw your way. Get really creative. Here is where your inner doubter can become your best ally. All of the “but what ifs” that this inner doubter can come up with – rehearse the best possible scenario that would still move you forward toward your desired outcome. Play and have some fun with this. The more bases you cover, the less likely you are to get tripped up during the real event.

It’s especially powerful to actually speak out loud as you do this rehearsing – practice actually getting the words out of your mouth, and experience for yourself whether or not you “sound convincing.”

Practice, Practice Practice

Because your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between the real event, and this imagined one (just think of the emotions you can experience while sitting in a comfortable seat in a movie theater), each time you imagine it is real. Athletes use this all the time, going through their event in their mind hundreds of times, so that by the time they arrive at the competition, it’s just another replay, rather than “the first time”. You can do this, too, so that your next interview is just another in a long line of successes.

The more you use this technique of rehearsing, and imagining the optimal outcome, the more you can also increase your belief, your overall sense that it will turn out the way you’re hoping – for example, that you will get a job offer, or get the sale. Take your practice runs all the way through to getting the desired result and feeling the excitement of the win. This is crucial to the process, because it increases your belief, and that will show up in your communication in terms of body language and tonality that are congruent with being the winner, and achieving the desired result.

Prepare your mental game, and you’ll increase your chances of a successful outcome. Don’t wait for “real” opportunities to practice. You can master most anything with enough practice, and practice is one of the easiest things to do – simply set aside the time, and leverage the power of your amazing mind to increase your odds of winning. Run through it over and over again until you can do it in your sleep. Perhaps you know some people you can bring into your game, and have them play some of the other characters in your practices. This can be a powerful way to practice as well, but it’s not necessary – your own imagination is enough. The more times you play it through successfully in advance, the more likely you’ll get the result you’re striving for.