SERIES

Refined Relevant Relaxed

Be Present

The mind is a noisy place. We often get lost in thoughts of a remembered past or an anticipated future. Whether reminiscing or regretting what has happened, or planning or worrying about what might happen, the past and the future steal our attention away from the present. We become mentally, absent, on autopilot, forgetting to experience what’s happening right here and now.

Life unfolds in the present. The past was, and future will be, but the present is all that ever is. Now is the moment of power, where all decisions are made, all emotions are felt, all life is lived. Give the present the attention it deserves.

To be present is to experience yourself from moment to moment, awake to the immediacy, the nowness, of everything that’s happening around you. Celebrating the act of being, undistracted by the past or the future. Like a child at play: carefree, exuberant, unselfconscious.

Being present has other benefits as well. You’ll feel fewer negative emotions and more positive emotions. Guilt and regret result from a focus on the past. Fear and stress result from a focus on the future. A focus on the present fosters openness, equanimity and gratitude.

by Tom Murcko

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