A Moment That Should Have Meant Nothing
It was an ordinary evening. I was sitting in the living room watching TV while my husband played a game on his computer. Nothing unusual. No heightened awareness. No expectation that anything meaningful was about to happen.
And then, suddenly, everything stopped.
The internet froze. His game locked mid-action. My show paused mid-scene. The room fell into a strange kind of silenceโthe kind where time doesnโt feel like itโs moving forward or backwardโฆ just suspended.
And in that pause, something subtle occurred.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a flicker of golden light move across the room in a smooth, linear motion. It wasnโt dramatic or overwhelming. It could have been anythingโsomething easily dismissed.
But because I believe that spiritual interaction is always possibleโand because I remain open to itโI simply said, โHi. If thereโs something you want me to know, Iโm listening.โ
Nothing happened.
No response. No voice. No dramatic follow-up. A moment later, everything resumed. The internet returned, my show continued, and life moved on.
I shrugged it off.
At leastโฆ for a while.
The Realization That Came Hours Later
A few hours later, as I was heading upstairs for the night, something shifted.
It wasnโt something I heard. It wasnโt external. It was something I suddenly understoodโcompletely, instantly, and with the clarity of a true โlightbulbโ moment.
A realization that felt as though it had been waiting for me to notice it.
Time, as we experience it, isnโt what we think it is.
Why the Past Feels Realโbut the Future Doesnโt
Think about the past.
We can remember it vividly. We can feel it, smell it, sometimes even taste it. We revisit it emotionally, often as if itโs happening all over again. Even though itโs no longer our present, it still feels completely realโbecause we lived it.
We donโt question it. We donโt doubt it. We accept it as fact.
Now consider the present.
The present is immersive. Itโs where everything unfolds. Itโs where we respond, react, and engage with reality through our senses. Like the past, we donโt question itโwe accept it.
But the future?
For most of us, the future feels abstract. Distant. Uncertain.
Not because itโs inherently differentโbut because we havenโt experienced it yet. We havenโt touched it, heard it, or lived through it, so weโve been conditioned to believe it isnโt real.
But what if it is?
The Bridge That Changes Everything
This was the realization that shifted everything for me:
Time is irrelevant.
The past and the future are not as different as we tend to believe. Both exist outside of the present moment. Neither is actively unfolding right now. And yet, we accept the past as real without hesitationโฆ while questioning the reality of the future.
Why?
The only true difference is experience.
The past is something weโve already lived.
The future is something we will live.
Both exist beyond the presentโso why should one feel real and the other not?
The Role of Reality in Manifestation and Prayer
Across many spiritual and philosophical traditions, there is a shared idea: aligning with something as already real, rather than waiting for it to arrive.
In Christian scripture, weโre told:
โWhatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.โ
In Hindu teachings, weโre encouraged to live from a state of fulfillmentโacting without attachment and rooting ourselves in inner completeness.
In Buddhism, weโre reminded that reality is shaped by the mind:
โAll that we are is the result of what we have thought.โ
Hermetic philosophy teaches:
โAs within, so without.โ
In Kabbalah, the concept of certainty emphasizes knowingโnot hoping or wishing.
And in Taoism, alignment replaces force:
when we stop striving, things begin to unfold naturally.
What stands out most is this:
Versions of the same idea appear across traditions, each pointing to the same quiet truthโthat the way we hold something internally influences how it unfolds externally.
Shifting From โWantingโ to โHavingโ
There is a subtle but powerful difference between these two states:
โI hope this happens.โ
โIโm grateful this is unfolding.โ
One reinforces the absence of something. The other acknowledges its presence.
When we โwant,โ we emphasize lack. We reinforce the idea that something is missing. And because we tend to embody that state, it becomes the lens through which we experience life.
But when we feel gratitude, we align ourselves with the experience of something already existing.
Science shows that gratitude reshapes the brain and nervous system. It changes how we perceive, respond, and engage with the world. And when our internal state shifts, our lived experience often follows.
This isnโt about pretending. It isnโt about denying reality.
Itโs about removing the assumption that the future is somehow less real than the past.
What If the Future Isnโt Distant at All?
What if the future isnโt something we wait for, but something we learn to recognize? What if it only feels far away because we havenโt yet learned how to feel it?
Weโve been conditioned to see the future as something separateโsomething out there, something approaching, something that hasnโt arrived. Itโs framed as distance, measured in time, effort, or uncertainty.
But the past exists in much the same way.
Itโs no longer here. Itโs no longer unfolding. And yet, we donโt experience it as distantโwe experience it as real. We revisit it emotionally. We recall it with clarity. At times, we feel it as though itโs happening again.
So what truly makes the future different?
If gratitude allows us to feel something as already existing, then what we are really doing is collapsing the perceived distance between ourselves and that experience. We are no longer standing apart from the futureโwe are allowing ourselves to step into the feeling of it.
This isnโt about convincing yourself of something untrue. Itโs about recognizing that your experience of reality is shaped, in part, by how you relate to it.
When something feels presentโeven before it fully materializesโyou begin to think and act differently.
Think about preparing for a trip. You plan, you pack, you anticipate. You donโt question whether it will happenโyou operate from the expectation that it will. You begin to feel excitement, gratitude, and anticipation long before the experience begins.
You are, in essence, relating to that future as if it is already real.
And because of that, it no longer feels distant.
What Does This All Mean?
This is the heart of it.
When you begin to anticipateโand even feel gratitudeโfor something that exists beyond your present moment, you shift your relationship with it. You stop viewing it as distant or uncertain, and instead begin to experience it as something already in motion.
And in doing so, you open the door to possibility.
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel The Coherence Nexus
Find my artwork On DeviantArt
Subscribe to my Newsletter
~Morgan~
BooknVolume 
An interesting post. You are correct about gratitude and living as if things were happening. I’ve lost my book about this. I can’t understand where it’s gone, because I never throw books away.
The writer said exactly what you say here. Don’t live as if you hope something will happen, but as though it already has. And say thanks as if it already happened. You can also use gratitude to help others. The woman who looks down in the dumps. Say thanks for her happiness, ot the man who you pass in the street who looks unwell. Say thanks for his improved health.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is the kind of discussion I’d love to open in the Facebook group Presence for Peace. I wish more people would join the conversation there ๐ But you’re so right, gratitude can move mountains if only we’d use it instead of anger.
LikeLike
Great post , thanks.
The Whole Universe on a pinheadโฆcreation existing in the same time and space as neither are โrealโ outside of the human perception. As you explain, only the present moment is โrealโ โฆas we experience โtimeโ speeding into the oblivion it always was, is and will beโฆ
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s an earth shattering thought if you’ve never considered it before, and yet, so beautifully simple.
LikeLiked by 1 person
As life can beโฆ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person