We’ve all heard the expression “Be Here Now.” I always understood it to mean, “Be aware of the present moment. Don’t worry about the past or the future.”

It makes a lot of sense. And when I’ve succeeded at Be Here Now, I always experience the benefits right away.

It’s just that for me, Be Here Now is easier to say than to do. How about you?

Then I discovered a trick to Be Here Now, and I want to share it with you. Actually, it’s not a trick – because “trick” implies that you’re taking some sort of shortcut. Or that there’s a “right” and “real” way to do something, and you’re just taking the “easy” or “slacker” way.

So maybe the way to phrase it is this: I found the key to Be Here Now –

Be Me Now.

Change that one word – shift that intention from “here” to “me” – and a new way opens to you.

When I was an actor, I was always waiting for the day when I would be better or more skilled or more adept or better experienced. I would go through the rehearsal process thinking, “If I were better at this, this moment wouldn’t be so hard.”

Today, when I coach speakers and performers of all kinds, I see them struggle with the same stuff. “If I just had more confidence…” “Next year I will start preparing earlier…” “When my ankle finishes healing, I’ll be able to…”

I’m betting this sounds familiar. There is an “I’m not enough as I am today” soundtrack running through the back of our minds.

The revelation is that it is this soundtrack that keeps us from “being here now.”

Our barrier isn’t a lack of skills or experience or fortitude. It’s the belief we have that we aren’t YET “good enough” but that one day we will be and THEN we can perform the way we want to. THEN we can release the way we want to. THEN we can fly the way we envision.

That’s – forgive me for saying – whacked.

When we are willing to Be Me Now, everything changes. Instead of using up energy, brain power and will power with bargains about future improvements we’ll make “someday,” we can be alert to the skills and gifts we have now.

You don’t have to be some better version of yourself. You don't have to have special skills or a pure heart or be more evolved than you are at this very minute.

You don’t have to wait until you reach some revelation or feel a certain way. You can stop looking for evidence in the physical world that you are “better” than you fear, or “good enough” to make a difference in yourself and the world.

Think back to where you were, and what you were doing last year. Most of us were looking to become the future version of ourselves, weren’t we? And everyone reading this made some sort of advance toward their goals since then. But do you give yourself credit? Or do you still discount your progress and hope that the future you will get here faster?

Be You Now. No kidding.

So, for me, Be Me Now means I can stop making myself feel “less than” by beginning every meditation with this deal: “Even if I’m not able to be perfectly still in mediation, I’ll do what I can and hope it’s enough.” ME now, IS enough – as along as I intend it to be so.

I’m learning to Be Me Now beyond meditating. I can Be Me Now, in meetings, in the garden, with my family and playing Wii.

Harness the Energy Around You!

When I am willing to Be Me Now, I feel an immediate shift in the way I relate to myself and the world around me. It’s a cool side benefit that the world around me seems to be willing to shift its relationship to me at the same time.

Will I get “better” at meditating without the habit of unconsciously adding items to the running shopping list I carry in my head? Sure. Will I continue to learn new skills, experience vibrational shifts and breathe into new experiences? I sure hope so.

But I don’t have to wait until then. I just have to Be Me Now.

Check it out.

Be You Now and see what it feels like. It won’t prevent you from evolving, learning, relaxing, growing – whatever you want in the future. What it will do is put you squarely with who you are and what you can do TODAY.