Relaxation means you don’t have any shoulds’. You are simply living moment to moment, not according to some future idea of yourself, but according to your reality that is herenow.

This quote is a profound notion, one that is essential to understanding the art of living deeply and authentically. Relaxation, in its truest essence, is the absence of “shoulds,” the very antithesis of the mind’s never-ending chatter of obligations, expectations, and societal dictates.

To be relaxed is to be in a state of complete acceptance of the present moment. It is to let go of the persistent tug of who you “should” be, a tug that often pulls you away from who you are right now. This moment – here and now – is the only truth, the only reality you have. The past is but a memory, the future a dream. They are phantoms, illusions that distract from the essence of life.

When your mind is cluttered with “shoulds,” you are living for an imagined future, a construct based on societal norms, parental dictates, and personal ambitions. These “shoulds” bind you, restrict you, create tension within. But when you drop these, when you simply are in the moment without the weight of these demands, you are free. You flow like water, you bloom like a flower – naturally, effortlessly.

This doesn’t mean you abandon planning or cease to engage in the activities that better your life. Instead, it means that in each moment you are fully present, engaged, and responding to the situation as it is, rather than as you think it should be. You plan for the future, but you live in the present. You are like a masterful dancer who knows the routine but is also attuned to the nuances of the music right now.

To expand on this, understand that the mind is a tool. It can plan, recollect, and imagine, but it is not the space where life is lived. Life is lived in the immediate, in the tangible experience of this moment – what you can see, touch, taste, smell, and hear right now; what you can feel in the body and the heart in this very instant.

Relax into this moment, beloved. Let go of the “shoulds,” and you will find a wellspring of joy, peace, and love that is your true nature.

Remember, to be relaxed is not to be passive or lazy. It is to be supremely active in the present, unconstrained by the past or future, in harmony with existence. Live from this herenow space, and watch how life unfolds with a beauty and grace you may have never imagined possible.

Rejoice in the herenow, for it is the gateway to the exuberant dance of existence.