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How to Live in the Moment

Ways to Be More Present in Your Everyday Life

Arlin Cuncic, MA, is the author of The Anxiety Workbook and founder of the website About Social Anxiety. She has a Master's degree in clinical psychology.

Rachel Goldman, PhD FTOS, is a licensed psychologist, clinical assistant professor, speaker, wellness expert specializing in eating behaviors, stress management, and health behavior change.

Getty / Diana Hirsch

Notice Your Surroundings

Don't Multitask
Show Gratitude
Be Accepting

Practice Mindfulness Meditation

Find Social Support
Practice Deep Breathing
Limit Social Media and Tech

Frequently Asked Questions

Many people want to learn more about how to live in the moment. Most of us have a tendency to live in the past or the future. How often do you find yourself thinking about what happened yesterday, or what might happen tomorrow ? How does this affect your life and well-being?

Constantly thinking about the past and worrying about the future can make it difficult to enjoy the good things in your life now. Learning how to be more mindful and live in the moment can give you a greater appreciation for your life, also reducing feelings of stress, depression, and anxiety. Here are a few ways to live in the moment more frequently.

One way to be in the present moment is by noticing your surroundings . How often do you take time out of your day to actually look around and see what's going on? When was the last time you sat down, took a deep breath, and just looked at everything around you?

Take this opportunity right now. Close both eyes and take a deep breath, then open them and really take in where you are.

How do the walls look?
What about the floor or ceiling—what patterns can you see?
How many windows are there to your left and right?
How many lights can you count from here?

When you stop to look at your surroundings and take in everything around you, it's easier to be more present in the moment.

Focus on One Thing at a Time

When learning how to live in the moment, it is helpful to focus your attention on one thing at a time. While it may feel more productive to multitask and work on more than one thing at a time, constantly juggling multiple tasks makes it hard to live in the present.

Although doing something that requires your full attention can seem overwhelming at first, be aware of how much more productive you are when fully engaged in a task. Compare this with trying to squeeze multiple things into one period of time or spending half of your energy on three different projects.

If you're working on something, give it all of your attention . When you find yourself thinking about other things or checking your phone because you don't feel like doing the task at hand, stop and turn the focus back to what's in front of you.

Research shows that when you are fully focused on what's happening at that moment, you can better remember details in the long term anyway.

Be Grateful For What You Have Now

Part of living in the moment is taking the time to be grateful for what you have now (not in the past or the future). If you are constantly focused on things you don't have, you aren't taking the time to appreciate what you have at this moment.

One way to practice gratitude is to write a list of things you are grateful for and review that list on a daily basis. Try to write at least three things you are grateful for in your life right now. Alternatively, you can do a gratitude rampage, where you write out as many things as you can think of in a certain time period.

Press Play for Advice On Practicing Gratitude

Hosted by therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares strategies for practicing gratitude. Click below to listen now.

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Show Acceptance

If you want to learn how to be more present, let go of how you think things should be and accept them for what they are. Focus on accepting things as they are and not on how you want them to be.

You cannot control everything that happens around you; sometimes life is going to be different than how you want it to be. Practicing acceptance will help you let go of the things in your life that are out of your control.

Another way to live in the moment is by practicing mindfulness meditation . This type of meditation helps people become aware and increase their concentration on what they are doing at any given time.

Starting a daily meditation practice can help you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings. This can, in turn, increase the amount of time you spend in the present moment.

Mindful Moment

Need a breather? Take this free 9-minute meditation focused on being present —or choose from our guided meditation library to find another one that will help you feel your best.

Find Positive Social Support

The kind of social support you have in your life can also play an important role in helping you learn how to live in the moment. When you are around people who are supportive and positive, it is much easier to be more present in your life.

Spending time with people who make you feel happy and fulfilled can be a great way to help yourself live in the present moment.

Surrounding yourself with positive, supportive people increases your own positivity and happiness levels. This will allow you to focus on what is going well right now instead of dwelling on past or future events.

Be Mindful of Everything You Do

Whatever you are doing, from eating to scrolling your phone, you should be mindful of it. How often are you eating your lunch while watching TV at the same time? This is one way you might distance yourself from what you are doing and not live in the moment because all of your attention isn't on that task or activity.

Instead, try to focus on each meal while you eat:

How does the food smell?
How does it taste?
How is your body reacting to what you have eaten so far?
What sounds are around while you eat - phone calls, traffic noises from outside, or music playing in the background?

Focusing on these details and being mindful of everything going on around you during a specific task or activity will help bring more present-moment awareness into your life .

Practice Deep Breathing Exercises

Deep breathing can be a useful technique when you are trying to learn how to live in the moment. Taking the time to sit down and practice a deep breathing exercise will help you focus your mind on the task at hand.

Taking slow, regulated breaths helps prevent feelings of panic or any other negative thoughts from taking over while allowing for more control during the activity in which you are currently engaged. One quick and easy method to try is the 4-7-8 breathing technique .

Take a Break From Social Media and Technology

Taking a break from social media and other technology can also help you stay more present-focused. While you might think that constantly checking your social media accounts is helping you stay connected to the world, it is actually having a negative effect on your ability to be present.

How many times have you been doing something else and found yourself checking social media? It's important that you learn how to avoid letting technology take over your life as this can really prevent you from being mindful of what is going on around you.

In particular, when you are with other people, it is important that you focus on the people and environment around you, rather than being distracted by your cell phone.

Get Regular Exercise or Do Some Yoga

Regular exercise or even just taking a stroll through the park can help you be more present. Including yoga as part of your daily routine is another great way to live in the moment, especially if it's coupled with meditation and mindfulness exercises.

If you can't make time for a full yoga class, just stopping what you are doing to take a couple of minutes for some basic poses can help you get back into the moment.

If you want to learn how to live in the moment, take the time to appreciate where you are, what you're doing, and who is with you. Instead of becoming caught up in the past or worrying about what will happen in the future, try to savor each moment as it passes.

If you need help with this process, talking to a therapist can be very helpful. They can give you tools and techniques that may make living in the moment easier for you.

Constant distractions combined with feelings of anxiety and stress can make it difficult to focus on the present moment. It is easy to get caught up in thinking about the past or worrying about things that haven't happened yet.

Three strategies that can help you be more present in your life include practicing mindfulness, showing gratitude, and only focusing on one thing at a time.

Work on focusing your thoughts and attention on the other person. When you find your mind wandering to other thoughts, gently redirect your focus back to the present. Utilize active listening when you are talking to the other person and be curious about the things they have to say. Ask open-ended questions and reflect back on what the other person has shared.

Strohmaier S, Jones FW, Cane JE. Effects of length of mindfulness practice on mindfulness, depression, anxiety, and stress: a randomized controlled experiment . Mindfulness . 2021;12:198-214. doi:10.1007/s12671-020-01512-5

Madore KP, Khazenzon AM, Backes CW, et al. Memory failure predicted by attention lapsing and media multitasking . Nature . 2020;587(7832):87-91. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2870-z

Sawyer KB, Thoroughgood CN, Stillwell EE, Duffy MK, Scott KL, Adair EA. Being present and thankful: A multi-study investigation of mindfulness, gratitude, and employee helping behavior . J App Psychol . 2022;107(2):240-262. doi:10.1037/apl0000903

Creswell JD. Mindfulness interventions . Annu Rev Psychol . 2017;68:491-516. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-042716-051139

By Arlin Cuncic, MA Arlin Cuncic, MA, is the author of The Anxiety Workbook and founder of the website About Social Anxiety. She has a Master's degree in clinical psychology.

The Importance of Living in the Present Moment

You also might have heard similar pieces of advice like:

“Don’t get caught up in thinking about the past or the future—live in the now!”
“Be present in your own life.”
“All you have is this moment. Don’t let it slip away.”

All of these (possibly overused) sayings boil down to the same basic message: it’s vital to live in the present moment.

In our current twenty-first century lives, it’s not easy. There’s always something coming up that we need to prepare for or anticipate, and our lives are so well-documented that it’s never been easier to get lost in the past.

Given the fast pace and hectic schedules most of us keep, a base level of anxiety, stress, and unhappiness is the new norm. You may not even realize it, but this tendency to get sucked into the past and the future can leave you perpetually worn out and feeling out of touch with yourself.

The cure for this condition is what so many people have been saying all along: conscious awareness and a commitment to staying in the “now.” Living in the present moment is the solution to a problem you may not have known you had.

You might be thinking that this all sounds great, but what does it actually mean to “live in the present moment?” How could we be living in anything but the present? Read on to find out!

Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our three Mindfulness Exercises for free . These science-based, comprehensive exercises will not only help you cultivate a sense of presence and inner peace in your daily life but will also give you the tools to enhance the mindfulness of your clients, students or employees.

This Article Contains:

The psychology of living in the present, what is the meaning of the present moment, why is being present minded important, why it can be difficult to live in the now, balancing the past, present, and future, how to be present and live in the moment, how to live in the moment but plan for the future, using present moment awareness to stop worrying, using yoga to connect with the present moment, 5 exercises to strengthen present moment awareness, 5 mindfulness practices and tools to use everyday.

7 Recommended YouTube Videos

7 Books Definitely Worth Reading

20 quotes on the here and the now, a take-home message.

Living in the present is not just an arbitrary term or a popular phrase—it’s a recognized and evidence-backed lifestyle that psychologists are quick to recommend for those struggling with anxiety and stress in their day-to-day life.

Being in the present moment, or the “here and now,” means that we are aware and mindful of what is happening at this very moment. We are not distracted by ruminations on the past or worries about the future, but centered in the here and now. All of our attention is focused on the present moment (Thum, 2008).

As author Myrko Thum tells it, the present moment is all there truly is:

“The present moment is the only thing where there is no time. It is the point between past and future. It is always there and it is the only point we can access in time. Everything that happens, happens in the present moment. Everything that ever happened and will ever happen can only happen in the present moment. It is impossible for anything to exist outside of it.”

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Being present minded is the key to staying healthy and happy. It helps you fight anxiety, cut down on your worrying and rumination, and keeps you grounded and connected to yourself and everything around you.

Although it has become a popular topic in recent years, living in the present is not just a fad or trendy lifestyle tip, it is a way of life that is backed up by good science.

Being present and exerting our ability to be mindful not only makes us happier, it can also help us deal with pain more effectively, reduce our stress and decrease its impact on our health, and improve our ability to cope with negative emotions like fear and anger. (Halliwell, 2017).

Living in the now is so difficult because we are always encouraged to think about the future or dwell on our past. Advertisements, reminders, notifications, messages, and alerts are all so often geared towards the past or the future.

Think about how often you are busy doing something else, perhaps even fully engrossed in it, when you are jolted out of your flow by your phone’s sudden “ding!” Now, think about how often that message or notification helps you stay present and aware of the here and now.

If you’re like me, your response to that is probably “Just about never.” Our phones are incredible pieces of technology that allow us to do so much more and do it so much more efficiently than ever before, but we really need to take a break from our phones at least once in a while.

Other factors that contribute to our inability to live in the now include:

We often edit out the bad parts of our experiences, making our past seem more enjoyable than it really was.
We face a lot of uncertainty when we live in the present, which can cause anxiety.
Our minds simply tend to wander!

It can be tough fighting these factors, but luckily we are not slaves to the tendencies of our brains (Tlalka, 2017). It is possible to overcome our more destructive or harmful urges and make better choices.

Multi-tasking is a common phenomenon, thanks to computers allowing us to run many programs simultaneously and our devices constantly providing us with new information (Rideout et al., 2010).

While modern technology provides many advances, and computers can multitask, we, as humans, are no computers. For us, multitasking involves constantly switching between contexts.

One cannot write a report and answer an incoming e-mail at the same time. Instead, the incoming e-mail requires reorientation and interrupts the report writing. Increased interruption due to multitasking increases stress and effort to focus attention on the task (Mark et al., 2008).

Research further indicates that increased media multitasking is associated with

higher levels of depression and social anxiety symptoms (Becker et al., 2013),
lower academic performance of college students (Junco & Cotten, 2011), and
decreased ability to filter irrelevant information effectively (Ophir et al., 2009).

So what is the antidote?

It is single-tasking, which is closely related to mindfulness. While it may not be realistic to stop multi-tasking completely, these four tips can help with focusing on one thing at a time:

Only have one browser tab open at a time
Take frequent breaks
Spend time away from your phone and computer
Work in time intervals

It’s good to think about the past and future sometimes.

Where would we be if we didn’t look back over our past successes and mistakes and learn from them? Where would we be if we never planned for the future or prepared ourselves for what is to come?

In both cases, we likely wouldn’t be in a good place.

It’s essential to a healthy life to spend some time thinking about the past and the future, but it’s rare that we don’t think enough about the past or the future—usually our problem is focusing too intently (or even obsessively) on the past or the future.

One of the aims of mindfulness and a key factor in living a healthy life is to balance your thoughts of the past, the present, and the future. Thinking about any of them too much can have serious negative effects on our lives, but keeping the three in balance will help us to be happy and healthy people.

It’s hard to say what the exact right balance is, but you’ll know you’ve hit it when you worry less, experience less stress on a regular basis, and find yourself living the majority of your life in the present.

To get to this healthy balance, try to keep these guidelines in mind:

Think about the past in small doses, and make sure you are focusing on the past for a reason (e.g., to relive a pleasant experience, identify where you went wrong, or figure out the key to a past success).
Think about the future in small doses, and make sure you are focusing on the future in a healthy, low-anxiety way (e.g., don’t spend time worrying about the future, think about the future just long enough to prepare for it and then move on).
Stay in the present moment for the vast majority of your time.

Of course, following these guidelines is easier said than done, but it will get easier with practice!

It might seem complicated to figure out this delicate balance, but it’s not as complex as it seems.

When we engage in mindfulness or present moment meditation, we are not ignoring or denying thoughts of the past or future, we are simply choosing not to dwell on them. It’s okay to acknowledge and label our past- and future-focused thoughts, categorize them, and be aware of their importance.

The important point is to not allow yourself to get swept up in thinking about the past or future. As Andy Puddicombe of Headspace states,

“…we can be present when consciously reflecting on events from the past (as opposed to being caught up, distracted and overwhelmed by the past”

When we are aware and present, we don’t need to worry about getting caught up in thoughts of our past or anxiety about our future—we can revisit our past and anticipate what is to come without losing ourselves.

Speaking of worry, present moment awareness is a great way to cut down on how much you worry.

Follow these six steps to become more attuned to the present and rid yourself of excess anxiety:

Cultivate unselfconsciousness: let go and stop thinking about your performance.
Practice savoring: avoid worrying about the future by fully experiencing the present.
Focus on your breath: allow mindfulness to make you more peaceful and smooth your interactions with others.
Find your flow: make the most of your time by losing track of it.
Improve your ability to accept: move toward what is bothering you rather than denying or running away from it.
Enhance your engagement: work on reducing moments of mindlessness and noticing new things to improve your mindfulness (Dixit, 2008).

There are many reasons why yoga is helpful for mindfulness, but one of the biggest is certainly the focus on the breath.

As yoga teacher and enthusiast Kelle Yokeley says,

“The path to presence is through our mind, body connection—our path is through our breath. The breath is ALWAYS the here and now, it is the ultimate present moment… Our breath is our constant connection to the here and now, and our presence is rooted in its flow.”

(Yokeley, 2014).

When we focus our attention on our breath, we have no choice but to be in the present.

To bring yourself back into the present in a moment of stress or when you’re feeling overwhelmed by the past or the future, you can try this breathing exercise from Yokeley:

Breath in and say to yourself, “I am breathing in”, breathe out saying, “I am breathing out.” On your next circle of breath, try saying to yourself, “I am here” coupled with “This is now” (Yokeley, 2014).

This simple exercise will bring you straight to the present, even dragging along a stubborn mind that is preoccupied with worries.

Another factor associated with yoga that allows us to boost our present moment awareness is the postures and poses that we make with our bodies. You might find that as soon as you get into a good pose, your mind becomes flooded with restless thoughts (called “Monkey Mind” by Buddhists).

As irritating as this can be, it’s actually a good thing—it means that we are beginning to process our stress and getting to a point where we can truly practice mindfulness (Bielkus, 2012).

Yoga’s gentle flow from one position to the next is a perfect opportunity to cultivate the ability to stay present. The transitions mimic the changes we experience as we go from working to resting to cooking to cleaning to sleeping and everything else in between.

If you enjoy yoga and want to work on your present moment awareness, give this affirmation a try:

“I am present and aware of this moment it is full and it is great.”

(Bielkus, 2012)

If the breathing exercise above sounds helpful, you might want to try some other exercises intended to boost your mindfulness and sense of present moment awareness. These 5 exercises are some good ways to get started.

Do a mindful body scan

This simple exercise is a great way to get yourself in a mindful mood and get in touch with your body. Doing this in the morning can also help you get your day off to a good start.

While sitting or lying down on your bed (just make sure not to fall asleep if you try this lying down!), take a few deep, mindful breaths. Notice the way your breath enters and exits your lungs.

Starting with your toes, focus your attention on one part of your body at a time. Pay attention to how that area is feeling and notice any sensations that you are experiencing (Scott, n.d.). After a few moments of focused attention, move up to the next part of your body (i.e., after your toes, focus on your feet, then ankles, then calves, etc.).

This is not only a good method for putting you in a mindful state right off the bat, it can also help you notice when your body is feeling differently than normal. You might catch an injury or illness that you wouldn’t normally notice, just by taking a few minutes each morning to scan your body.

You can learn more about the mindful body scan and other exercises here .

Write in a journal / “Morning pages”

Another good exercise that can help you set the right mindful tone for the day is to write in your journal . A specific version of this exercise that is endorsed by author Julia Cameron is called “Morning Pages.”

Here’s how to use your journal as a stepping block to a more mindful day.

Early in the morning, before you’ve headed off to work or school or started checking things off your long to-do list, take a few minutes to pull out your journal or a notebook and make an entry.

You can do a new page each day and simply write however much you feel like writing, or you can try Cameron’s Morning Pages exercise:

“Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages—they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind—and they are for your eyes only.

Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize, and synchronize the day at hand” (Cameron, n.d., as cited in Scott, n.d.).

Whether you follow Cameron’s guidelines or not, taking just a few minutes to write down any mindless “chatter” in your head or log any particularly insightful dreams can clear your head and help you start your day off in a mindful state.

Visualize your daily goals

Visualizing your goals is an excellent method for not only making it more likely that you will follow through on your goals, it can also help you become more mindful on a regular basis.

When you have set your daily goals (see #15 – Define Three Daily Goals on this list if you need help with this piece), take a few moments to visualize each one (Scott, n.d.).

See yourself undertaking each goal and completing each goal today. Get as much detail as you can in your visualization, so it feels real and within your reach.

When you can see yourself checking that daily goal off your list, move on to the next goal and repeat until you have visualized all of your daily goals.

Practicing visualization of goal completion can not only help you improve your focus and mindfulness, it can also lower your stress, improve your performance, enhance your preparedness, and give you the extra energy or motivation you might need to accomplish everything on your list.

Take a mindful nature walk

Taking advantage of the natural beauty around us is another good way to cultivate greater mindfulness.

The next time you feel the need for a walk—whether it’s a quick trip around the block or a lengthy stroll through a pretty, scenic spot—make it a mindful nature walk.

It’s pretty simple to make any walk a mindful walk ; all you need to do is engage all your senses and stay aware of what’s happening both around you and within you.

Be intentional with your awareness; notice your feet hitting the ground with each step, see everything there is to see around you, open your ears to all the sounds surrounding you, feel each inhale and exhale, and just generally be aware of what is happening in each moment.

This exercise helps you not only connect to your authentic self, but it also helps connect you to your environment and improves your awareness of the beauty that’s all around, just waiting to be found. Add these benefits to the known benefits of walking regularly—lowered stress, better heart health, and improved mood—and you have one handy exercise!

Conduct a mindful review of your day

It can be easy to get tired and worn out by the end of the day and let things slip. To help you keep that mindful tone at the end of the day, try this exercise.

Towards the end of your day, perhaps after you finish all of your “must-dos” for the day or right before heading off to bed, take a few minutes to do a review of your day (Scott, n.d.).

Think back to the start of the day and remember your mindfulness exercise that kicked it all off. Think about how it made you feel.

Think through the rest of your day, being sure to note any particularly mindful moments or memorable events. Take stock of your mood as you moved through your daily routine.

If you want to keep track of your progress towards greater mindfulness, it’s a great idea to write all of this down in a journal or a diary; however, the point is to give yourself yet another opportunity to be mindful and end your day on the right note.

Any meditation will do, but there are some meditation practices geared specifically towards present moment awareness.

To give this meditation a try, follow these simple steps:

Set aside a regular block of time during your day (e.g., 5 minutes first thing in the morning or before you go to bed).
Get in a comfortable position—but not too comfortable! You don’t want to fall asleep when you’re trying to meditate. Sitting upright may be the best posture.
Set up an “inner gatekeeper” to control what comes in and what must stay out of the mind. Instruct the gatekeeper to keep out any thoughts of the past or the future for the rest of your current practice.
Repeat this phrase silently to yourself three times: “ Now is the time to be aware of the present moment. I let go of the past and the future .”
Turn your attention towards the sounds you hear. Allow them to wash over you and focus only on the current sound you are hearing, not the one you just heard or any sound you may hear next.
Focus on your bodily sensations: your arms resting on the arms of a chair or on your lap, your legs on the chair or folded up underneath you, the feel of your clothing on your skin, any pain or muscle aches, any twitches or flutterings, and any other sensations you might be feeling.
Turn your focus to the thoughts going through your head. Observe them as they enter your mind, swirl around your consciousness, then exit your mind. Let each thought pass, labeling them as they go (e.g., “hurt” or “happy”) and keeping your mind open for the next thought to arise.
Finally, focus on your breathing. Notice your natural breathing pattern and take note of how your chest rises and falls with each breath (Henshaw, 2013).

Although mindfulness meditation is a pretty broad catch-all term for the types of techniques that help you be more mindful and more committed to the present moment, there are some specific kinds of mindful meditations that you can try.

These kinds include:

Basic mindfulness meditation : focusing on your breathing, a word, or a mantra and allowing thoughts to come and go without judgment.
Body sensations: being aware of bodily sensations like itching, tingling, soreness, or a tickling sensation and accepting them without judgment, then letting them pass.
Sensory: being aware of what you are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching without judgment, then labeling them and letting the sensations pass.
Emotions: allowing emotions to be present in yourself without judging or trying to neutralize them; practicing the naming/labeling of the emotions and allowing them to arise and letting them go just as easily.
Urge surfing: coping with cravings by accepting them without judgment, noticing how you feel as they hit, and reminding yourself that they will pass (HelpGuide, n.d.).

A Look at Present Moment Psychotherapy

If you find yourself struggling to use these techniques or implement these tools and tricks, and/or if you are dealing with a diagnosed mental disorder like depression, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, present moment psychotherapy may be just what you need.

Present moment psychotherapy is like any other type of therapy, but it adds a twist with its focus on present moment awareness.

As therapist and founder of Present Moment Psychotherapy & Coaching Adrienne Glasser states, present moment psychotherapy is about “regulating our nervous system through an integration of traditional therapeutic modalities with modern, experiential modalities and meditation” (n.d.).

You may find this focus on being present and mindful to be a powerful complement to traditional, evidence-based methods of treatment.

6 Recommended YouTube Videos

To get a quick, comprehensive explanation of living in the present, learn about why living in the present is so good for you, or get some guidance on being present and mindful, give these YouTube videos a try:

The Present Moment – Alan Watts Wisdom from The Motiv8

Sam Harris – It Is Always Now from AJ Salas

Want to be happier? Stay in the Moment – Matt Killingsworth from TED

Surrender Yourself to the Present Moment – Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh from plumvillageonline

Oprah & Eckhart Tolle – Living in the Present Moment from Fearless Soul

Here’s a Simple, Proven Way to Live in the Moment from Mel Robbins

If you’re interested in learning more about the present moment or getting some extra tips and tricks on cultivating mindfulness, check out these books:

Present Moment Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living by Thich Nhat Hanh ( Amazon )
A Guide to the Present Moment by Noah Elkrief ( Amazon )
You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh ( Amazon )
10-Minute Mindfulness: 71 Habits for Living in the Present Moment by S. J. Scott and Barrie Davenport ( Amazon )
Present Moment Awareness: A Simple, Step-by-Step Guide to Living in the Now by Shannon Duncan ( Amazon )
The Present Moment: 365 Daily Affirmations by Louise Hay ( Amazon )
How to Live in the Present Moment, Version 2.0 – Let Go of the Past and Stop Worrying About the Future by Matt Morris and Shah Faisal Ahmad ( Amazon )

You can also check out our comprehensive list of the top 50 mindfulness books .

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For a great list of quotes on living in the present moment, check out this piece from Habits for Wellbeing. Their 20 quotes include:

Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

Mindfulness isn’t difficult, we just need to remember to do it.

Sharon Salzberg

Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry—all forms of fear—are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.

Eckhart Tolle

You’ll seldom experience regret for anything that you’ve done. It is what you haven’t done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear. Do it! Develop an appreciation for the present moment. Seize every second of your life and savor it. Value your present moments. Using them up in any self-defeating ways means you’ve lost them forever.

The next message you need is always right where you are.

When you are here and now, sitting totally, not jumping ahead, the miracle has happened. To be in the moment is the miracle.

The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with what is. When the mind is perfectly clear, “what is” is what we want.

Byron Katie

The only time you ever have in which to learn anything or see anything or feel anything, or express any feeling or emotion, or respond to an event, or grow, or heal, is this moment, because this is the only moment any of us ever gets. You’re only here now; you’re only alive in this moment.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

Remember then: there is only one time that is important—now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power.

Leo Tolstoy

Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.

The meeting of two eternities, the past and the future… is precisely the present moment.

Henry David Thoreau

The more I give myself permission to live in the moment and enjoy it without feeling guilty or judgmental about any other time, the better I feel about the quality of my work.

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.

What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.

Living in the present moment means letting go of the past and not waiting for the future. It means living your life consciously, aware that each moment you breathe is a gift.

Oprah Winfrey

The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.

Abraham Maslow

Past and future are in the mind only—I am now.

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

When you have an intense contact of love with nature or another human being, like a spark, then you understand that there is no time and that everything is eternal.

Paulo Coelho

I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this piece and learned something that you can apply in your own life to help you cultivate a better sense of mindfulness.

If you take just one thing home from reading this piece, make sure that it’s this: being mindful is extremely easy! Yes, it takes work and effort to create a sustained mindfulness practice, but it’s incredibly easy to take a pause and be mindful at any random moment throughout the day—like right now!

If you don’t have the time or the energy for any of the more involved exercises right now, that’s okay. Simply stop a few times a day and take a mindful moment. The more you do it, the better you’ll get at being mindful, and soon it will be second nature to you.

What are your thoughts on living in the present? Do you have any tips or tricks to share? What do you find are the most impactful benefits of living in the present? Let us know in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Mindfulness Exercises for free .

Becker, M. W., Alzahabi, R., & Hopwood, C. J. (2013). Media multitasking is associated with symptoms of depression and social anxiety. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(2) , 132-135.
Bielkus, S. (2012). The present moment: Where the body meets the mind in yoga class. Health Yoga Life. Retrieved from https://healthyogalife.com/the-present-moment-where-the-body-meets-the-mind-in-yoga-class-by-aida-bielkus/
Cameron, J. (n.d.). Morning pages. Live the Artist’s Way. Retrieved from https://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/
Dixit, J. (2008). The art of now: Six steps to living in the moment. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200811/the-art-now-six-steps-living-in-the-moment
Glasser, A. (n.d.). Present moment psychotherapy: About. Present Moment Psychotherapy & Coaching. Retrieved from http://www.presentmomentpsychotherapy.com/about/
Halliwell, E. (2017). The science and practice of staying present through difficult times. Mindful. Retrieved from https://www.mindful.org/science-practice-staying-present-difficult-times/
HelpGuide. (n.d.). Benefits of mindfulness. HelpGuide.org. Retrieved from https://www.helpguide.org/harvard/benefits-of-mindfulness.htm
Henshaw, S. (2013). How to do present moment awareness meditation. Psych Central. Retrieved from https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-to-do-present-moment-awareness-meditation/
Junco, R., & Cotten, S. R. (2011). A decade of distraction? How multitasking affects student outcomes. How Multitasking Affects Student Outcomes. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1927049
Mark, G., Gudith, D., & Klocke, U. (2008). The cost of interrupted work: more speed and stress . In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 107-110).
Ophir, E., Nass, C., & Wagner, A. (2009). Cognitive control in media multitaskers. Proceedings of the National Association of Sciences, 106 , 15583–15587.
Puddicombe, A. (2015). How do you live in the moment and plan for the future? Headspace. Retrieved from https://www.headspace.com/blog/2015/05/07/thinking-about-the-future/
Rideout, V. J., Foehr, U. G., & Roberts, D. F. (2010). Generation M 2: Media in the Lives of 8-to 18-Year-Olds . Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
Scott, S. J. (n.d.). 71 mindfulness exercises for living in the present moment. Develop Good Habits. Retrieved from https://www.developgoodhabits.com/mindfulness-exercises/
Thum, M. (2008). What is the present moment? Myrko Thum. Retrieved from http://www.myrkothum.com/what-is-the-present-moment/
Tlalka, S. (2017). Why it’s hard to live in the present moment. Mindful . Retrieved from https://www.mindful.org/hard-live-present-moment/
Wokeley, K. (2014). Being present. Yoga Mindset. Retrieved from http://yogamindset.com/meditation/being-present/

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The Importance of Living with The Present and not Regret The Past

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Pocket Mindfulness

How to Escape Being a Victim of Time & Truly Live in the Present Moment

The easiest way to explain living in the present is to start by explaining what it means to not be present, since this is the state we have become habitually used to.

When you aren’t being present you become a victim of time. Your mind is pulled into the past or the future, or both.

Your thoughts are of the past: what has been, what could have been, what you thought happened vs. what actually did happen. Or, your thoughts are of the future: what will be, what could be, what might be, if…

Of course, it’s natural to spend moments of thought in the past or in daydreams of the future. Identifying impending dangers through associations with things that have happened in the past is important for self-preservation.

But when our lives become dictated by thoughts and emotions attached to past events and potential future outcomes, standing peacefully rooted in the present becomes increasingly rare.

Our routine, our habit, is to be off in our heads somewhere mulling over negativity and struggles of the past, or becoming anxious and fearful of the future. Seldom are we fully “here”; neutrally centred to see through life’s lens with clarity and naked awareness – a state that assists us in finding contentment and understanding in ourselves.

Habits quickly become the norm and, as we know from many of life’s other vices, just because we’re used to doing something regularly doesn’t mean it is good for us, or the right way to live.

An easy way to break this habit of being a victim of time is to identify time for what it is. Time is a human concept. The watch on your wrist and the clock on the wall mean nothing to Mother Nature.

To her, life is one evolving moment – a perpetual cycle of interdependent impermanence. Time is a metric we use as a reference point for organising our lives and documenting history. It doesn’t actually exist. Really, it doesn’t. Ask a scientist.

Time is an illusion, which makes being controlled by time somewhat delusional. The past doesn’t exist and neither does the future. The only true reference point we have to this moment in time, and to this thing we label “existence”, is a feeling of presence, of being here in this body, of seeing the world through these eyes.

This is all that can exist, because this is what you feel right now. You can’t feel the past or the future, but you can feel what it feels like to touch something right now, to see something, to hear something.

The concept of time deludes us into concerning ourselves with its passing and impending arrival. This stops us enjoying this “presence” we feel. We are duped into remaining in one of two states: The first, one of dwelling in the past and mulling over what has happened. The second, one of waiting amd constantly anticipating what is to come, if and when…

For example:

– How often do you enjoy your work? Or are you too busy thinking about getting it finished by the deadline to give yourself a chance to enjoy it?

– Are you so stressed out trying to do your best work to impress your boss that you prevent yourself being able to perform at your highest potential anyway?

– Are you so distracted by thoughts of Monday morning that you spoil the time spent with your children on the weekend?

– Are you so caught up in regrets of the past that you prevent opportunity blossoming in the present?

– Are the opinions of others, formed through actions you took in the past, stopping you being who you (are) want to be in the present?

We are all unavoidably victims of time to some degree, because it has become the accepted state of norm in our fast-paced, highly motivated and highly-strung society. And for this reason it is important that we understand that to not be present is to be torn between two worlds, the past and the future, neither of which exist. To constantly reside in this state prevents us enjoying life and finding happiness.

If you allow yourself to be a victim of time – a victim of the past and a slave to a future that is yet to unravel – you will carry with you a sense of unease. You will be susceptible to stress, agitation and feel generally uncomfortable in life.

There is no redemption to be found in time.

So surrender to what is right now.

Wherever you are, commit to being there, completely. Life will take care of the rest.

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July 13, 2018 at 4:20 am

All that was and will be is. All we need to do is breathe in the light, and there exists enlightenment.

Lakshmi Ganapathi says

August 4, 2018 at 12:54 am

Timely read for me. Thank you and it is well written.

Tushar Ghawale says

September 12, 2018 at 2:37 pm

very nicely written. never read this concept of time before that because of time binding…we focus on that deadline or particular time and we think of that deadline or time until that point comes and hence during this process we forget to live in present. I really liked this article.

Alfred James says

September 12, 2018 at 4:39 pm

Thanks Tushar. We need to remember to enjoy the journey. The reward is in the steps we take. Once we reach the goal, the mind is quickly working on the next one!

October 2, 2018 at 12:29 am

Are you the author?

October 2, 2018 at 9:01 am

March 2, 2019 at 10:13 pm

Loved that.

November 14, 2018 at 1:07 am

Thank you! I am always living in the future. I will think of all sorts of negative scenarios that may come up in the future. It’s true. I don’t enjoy what I have now. Sometimes I wonder why do I think so much. There may be fears of what’s coming up…getting a medical report…etc..i dwell so much in imagining the bad things that I get quite depressed. Living in the moment will help. But I guess I need the courage to face what’s coming up.

November 14, 2018 at 10:50 am

I understand. It’s not easy. But remember, the future doesn’t exist yet. Only ‘now’ exists. So if you constantly live in thoughts of the future, you’re essentially living in a non-reality. And we know from experience that our worries and fears very rarely come true. I know it’s hard because we are faced with so many worries and concerns, and of course it is natural to think about the future and properly prepare for our wellbeing, but try to find activities that give your mind a break and root you in the present for a while. Exercise is a great way to do that: running, a gym workout or playing a sport you enjoy. Walking in nature is great too. Listening to your favourite music, or playing music if you play an instrument. Painting, writing, or anything creative that focuses your mind on something you enjoy and fully engages you in that activity.

February 4, 2019 at 12:25 pm

Thanks for this article.

December 14, 2018 at 8:47 am

I am always thinking about the negative thing that have happened to me and the positive things that is going to happen. I never lived today

William Melton says

December 18, 2018 at 5:59 am

Thanks for the forthright thoughts. Living in the two has been my life. When in the moment it is easy to forget the two.They are non-exist when in the moment so I would forget their power they have.Flashes of the two are always there,even when in the moment.Still in therapy ( CBT).Meds etc.. This article has moved me along in a good way.

Steven Arecco says

April 12, 2019 at 6:58 pm

Alfred, absolutely wonderful article! So beautifully written and expressed!! It is truly everything i believe and practice, as best i can:-) I study Eckhart Tolle, Jon Kabat Zinn, Wayne Dyer & many others.

I have a youtube channel and would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to interview you! We use zoom conferencing. It will be edited before release. I would also be able to send you it and allow any edits you felt you would like prior to release. Really hope to hear from you Alfred, as i feel our message must reach as many people as possible and as soon as possible! Steven D. Arecco

April 15, 2019 at 12:34 pm

Hi Steven, thank you for your kind words. I’ll will have to graciously decline your offer for an interview as I’m not currently doing that sort of thing. Thank you for thinking of me though. I will keep an eye out for your videos and articles though.

September 22, 2019 at 7:22 pm

Hello Alfred James, I enjoyed your writing and I’ve been writing in this topic for some time myself and like your approach very much. We are attempting to describe what has already changed. A few questions and please email me if you want to continue this piece of art. Can one do nothing and be living in the present? Can one be conscious of the present and see it happening while living in it ? So can we be living in the present , all in the now, and witness time moving like the wake from a ship? Live your article and thank you for starting this thread. Abraços

September 23, 2019 at 12:47 pm

1. I would say yes but doing nothing is still doing something: you are still alive and breathing, thinking, existing. 2. Yes. As long as you are alive and your brain is active you will have the conscious awareness that you are a living being, that you exist in some way. You see life happening and you are a part of it. 3. Yes, but time is just an illusion. Time is not moving; only your perception that time exists causes the belief that it is moving. Mother Nature has no concept of time.

Have a great day!

Steven D. Arecco says

April 15, 2019 at 6:26 pm

Thank you for the prompt reply Alfred. Hope all is well with you and your family:-) Steven D. Arecco

June 29, 2019 at 11:25 am

Thank you Alfred for this article, I am sure my life has been impacted positively and I would love to subscribe.

John A. Robbins says

August 22, 2019 at 8:07 pm

Now, the present moment is the time to be grateful. Because the present moment is the only time there is to be grateful.

Lilyana says

August 28, 2019 at 12:23 am

Very inspiring. Thanks so much, you just made me know how to enjoy The Now, The Present Moment.

August 28, 2019 at 10:18 am

Thank you. Have a wonderful day!

Matthew Cabana says

September 17, 2019 at 2:08 am

I love the article and referenced in a continued string of thoughts that I share with folks on “The Search For Joy”.

I keep finding more and more of it in the present moment. Shocking…

Sara Cardenas says

November 10, 2019 at 3:57 am

I love the article, i have some questions i would like to asked you, is not about me but its about my Son hes 18 years old and their something going on eith him since he git very sick and that sane date he’s different even at school and at hes work have been asking me what’s going on with him. I went to talk to the consular to explain a little of what him and i talk some time so she knows whats going on but we havent got no conclusion.. since September 15. 2019 he got home from work and start throwing up so much i asked him what happens and all he said im sick then Monday its school day he gets out from hes room and tells me.im.not feeling good then i asked your going to school he daid no, then he continued to next day Tuesday September 17. 2019 then On Wednesday he foes go to school but the weather its going on and school call if we want to pick up our kids we can do it so i went to pick up my 2 kid’s then i cook they eat then he tells me im still feeling dick he throws up so much. And tells me he feels like some bags in hes stomachs and that he throws some buy he still feel some in. Then Thursday they didnt have school for the weather then Friday they did but i didnt let them ho bevause i see he was so sick and i told him im going to take you to the hospital bext day Saturfay morning and i did to Memorial Herman Hospital he tells them how hes feeling so they make en x-rey and it shiws only having a virus in hes throat and they gave him medication but they didnt see nothing of hes stomachs. So we got home. Then later he continues that hes not righttheir ither thing going on him and he doesnt want to scare me off or for me to think that hes crazy. So while having hes stomachs pains and throwing up. He was having another big issues that he doesnt know when and how it start it and while hes like that its hard for him to be at school and some times at school. After he hold me i took him back to that same hospital i asked for MRI but they didnt want to fo it so they did a CAT SCANS on hes stomachs and hes head to see what comes out he explain to one of the Doctors but seem that they dont want to deal with it so they gave me numbers yo call so they got the results and they told us hes head its perfect but hes stomachs come out thst maybe not sure he could be developed appendicitis but their were not sure so i need to take him to a primary Doctor as soon as possible so they can run more test anf about hes head i start calling but they didnt have nothing soon so as days pass and the Month. I feel i have to harry up because of all he talk to me so i took him to L.B.J Hospital and their the Doctor show alot of intrest and she sit dawn and listen to him. So after that she make him and Evaluation and she said i see you ok and your memorial it still good but for the things you saif i will give your mom a number to call and this will be for a Mental Crisis but their they will make you a better Evaluation and with them Doctors you will know whats going on. Now i will explain he havent lost hes mine and i thanks to God but even we here in present he is too but he said that everthing he vision see he already experience before and to many times.. by now he already have 2 months with that and he have been telling me hes tire of that . Last week i went to pick up my daughter in law from her job i took my grandson and my son that its having this problems.. so after i pick her up we went to the closes tittle Caesars pizza my older son he burly start to work as a uber driver as hes first time so he got off and buy and pay we wait until they have it ready them we got home. The next day we were talking and he tell me mom that place we went we all went before and that it was not the first time we went their. Also he tells me and my older son its not hes first time doing uber he already have been doing before and i look at him and i told him noooo for us going to that .pizza on that address it was the first time we have never been their and your brother its hes first time working as Uber i start to cry and i told him hour losing ypur mind. He grab my arms and explain mom i know but for me its have been on others times.. what ever i see or the people i see . I already saw it some how but font know how i lnow the fate we are in and the month anf year and time but something its trigger me i dont know how. Its like if im ina deep sleep anf i cant wake up. But i yell you know what ever the time it is were i should be if im little or fat i just want to go back to were i supposed to be and i yell him its this one .. Now and present and he start to cry. So yes he dont Lough or joke. Hes different of what he was.. he also said thst when he get back to yhe time he schould be that now one will remeber nothing of all thst only him so he alwsys taking pictures and i tell him why if i see all this ghat you see right now.. also thst in one of the times he said he see him turning 19 years.old but he dosnt see him self graduated and it keep repeating over and over.. and thst is 2019. But i told him yes we are in 2019 but you will be 19 in 2020 and on 2020 you graduated.. so i do have and appiinment schedule with a Mental Crisis to see whats going on. On this month of November 19, 2019… so do you think you can tell me what can be going on.. also before he start to get sick thay he was dpingmok and exercise . Hevstart to asked me amd tell me that he would luke to talk to hes xgirlfriend since they didn’t finish im a good terms he want to talk to be friends but i told him ok do what you want just later dont tell me this and that. Because she hurt him so bad he did feel in live with her and it was hes first time for him but not for her. And so he try but then this start. He start to get sick. ..well i will be reading from you and wating on you and im sorry for my long comment. I pray to God for my son to come back .. Thank you, Sara

Roy Hewes says

November 17, 2020 at 12:32 pm

Hi Sara, I read your article, and I wanted to pass my insights in the hope it would help.

I feel for your son and can appreciate how difficult this must be … I do not want to presume too much, but I would speculate that your son is suffering anxiety from being in love or the break-up of his relationship with his ex-girlfriend. Anxiety and stress from relationships can affect our physical and emotional well-being, being over-sensitive to our emotions will fuel symptoms common to what your son is going through.

My advice would be to ask to get your son to open up about his feeling towards this girl, and if he is hung-up on her look to get him involved in some activities at least once a day that will occupy his mind. Also, seek additional help from a health professional who is more qualified in this regard.

I hope it helps and I wish you all the very best.

November 18, 2020 at 12:57 am

Thank you, Roy Hawes. I’m very happy to read back from you and very happy because my son it back to hes normal life. I use to be praying to God every day and I’m very thankful for all the good he done and that he work in my son. I know God always have something for each of us.. I did took him with a mental specialist Doctor and he asked all the Question to him and to me of all he does from the beginning of the day to the end of the night he goes to sleep. So the Doctor told him it was not good for him to be in a big diet like he was. Not to eat nothing until the night and only one meal a day . Also he went out 2 days with out food so the Doctor said if you don’t eat at all or 1 meal the brain doesn’t have the right function. So he start to eat and eat healthy like he use to but he’s 3 meals. So in a week he was back to he’s normal life. While he was talking we see the difference. He didn’t knowest he was back and we tell him and when we asked him about everything he use to tell us he didn’t remember nothing of that. He thought we were making out but it was true. So we just leave it behind like nothing really happened and continue living life as it goes day by day.. thank you for everything and God Blessed Everyone. .

Thank you so, Sara Cardenas 💓

December 22, 2019 at 3:15 pm

Hello Alfred, So wonderfully written, and I hope you can allow me to use your material in the preaching that I am preparing. Crediting you as the source, I think excerpts from your message will be a good introduction to my preaching to open the year 2020. Thank you as I ask your blessing! Merry Christmas!

December 22, 2019 at 5:12 pm

Thank you. Please go ahead Alvin. Merry Christmas to you too!

January 2, 2020 at 3:43 pm

Time is not just an illusion. It actually exists as defined in science / physics and by Einstein, etc. via E=MC2. Everything in the universe is impacted by it e.g. growth and decay, inlcuding nebulae, galaxies, stars, energy, universe expansion, erosion, tectonics, gravity, planetary orbits, etc.

January 2, 2020 at 4:34 pm

Hi Peter, I can’t see how E=MC2 proves our common perception of time.

I quote: “There is no time variable in the fundamental equations that describe the world. Time is merely a perspective, rather than a universal truth. It’s a point of view that humans share as a result of our biology and evolution, our place on Earth, and the planet’s place in the universe. – Carlo Rovelli, Physicist.

Kim Land says

January 26, 2020 at 3:10 pm

Great post Alfred!

I try my best to live in the present moment by practicing mindfulness meditation regularly. But of course you also need to structure your life in a way that makes it less stressful. And it’s important to figure out what your goal in life is and what you love doing.

The present moment is the only moment we can expirience. We should live it to the fullest.

Trevor Trevino Reeby says

April 20, 2020 at 9:06 pm

Dear Alfred, I too love your article. Certainly well written I call it a timepiece. Thank you I am also very keen to use your article and asks permission to do so with credit to you of course. Thank you in advance,

Richard says

June 10, 2022 at 10:27 pm

Totally agree. We pay a high cost for not being present in the moment. In fact, we miss out on life altogether. Thanks for a great article 🙂

June 19, 2022 at 4:15 pm

I disagree with you. time is real. it does exist. I know time exists because time enters into my body, changing it little by little. I know time exists because people I love are dead. they are no longer with me, and I cannot see or touch them again. I know time exists because the sun rises and sets each day. I know time exists because the places that were once familiar to me are now strange, distant dreams. I know time exists every time I go home and encounter my mother’s face. I think it is condescending to say that the past and the future do not matter lol. also, why is it so important to be happy? the only people who tell me to be happy are the people who want me to buy something. has anyone ever actually been happy? it’s easy to pretend on the internet that we aren’t sad. but it’s not true. we struggle. we live in a world that gets dusty, gets old, gets ugly and gets forgotten. but that doesn’t mean it’s not beautiful and it’s not meaningful.

June 19, 2022 at 8:52 pm

Hey Jenny, tine is a concept, a measurement that man uses to quantify things such as the length of a life. But in nature there is no time, just billions of independent processes that exist in the “now”. I think happiness is the sharing of love and joy. When you give or receive love, when you share your experiences, you feel happier.

Davide Doardi says

August 12, 2022 at 12:10 pm

I am 61 and suffer from death anxiety. The feeling of time is a reality. However, it is also true that the more you are engaged in the present, the less important time becomes. I know from second hand that at its peak, to be absorbed in something you treat as deeply meaningful makes time / death irrelevant. Religious people feel this relief as a discharge of responsibility accompanied by assurance everything is OK . Well that ‘ s my goal. Best

August 12, 2022 at 2:13 pm

You’re right Davide. At any age none of us are guaranteed another day. You’re not old. You could live another 40 years or more, so enjoy every moment you can 🙂

Poonam Mangaraj says

April 10, 2023 at 3:15 am

It’s beautifully written. Motivational. I would love to read more of such pieces. By any chance is there any app that I can have for pocket mindfulness?

April 12, 2023 at 10:18 am

Hi Poonam, thank you :). There is no app I’m afraid, just this blog and my couple of books.

How Present-Moment Awareness Can Make Life More Meaningful

When we practice present-moment awareness, we can savor each moment, make time feel like it’s passing slower, and get in touch with the fundamental wonder of being alive.

By Eric Langshur and Nate Klemp
December 22, 2021

Presence is meditation in motion. It is the practice of bringing mindfulness into the activities of everyday life. We can practice the art of being here, now, while waiting in a long grocery store line, changing a baby’s diaper, or sitting in traffic.

Presence involves a simple yet incredible shift—from the ordinary state of mind wandering to bringing our attention to the experience of what is happening right now. You can make this shift anytime, anywhere.

Why develop this habit? Spiritual leaders and philosophers have attempted to answer this question for thousands of years. And yet Ferris Bueller (the impetuous high school student from the classic 1986 film) might just have the best answer: “Life moves pretty fast,” he warned. “If you don’t stop and look around for a while, you might miss it.”

He’s right. Life without presence moves pretty fast. When we wake up, go to work, and do the other things we need to do, we often operate on autopilot; the days fly by, as do the weeks, months, and years. In fact, scientists have confirmed that this experience of time “flying by” increases with age. With each passing year, the novelty of life diminishes and our perception of time accelerates.

When we wake up, go to work, and do the other things we need to do, we often operate on autopilot; the days fly by, as do the weeks, months, and years.

This has led the mindfulness teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn to argue that if you really want to live a longer life, presence—not drugs, healthy eating, or any other strategy—is the best solution. You may not actually live longer in terms of calendar time, but your experience of life and your perception of time will expand. The days, months, and years can be richer, more meaningful, and more fully lived.

Appreciating the fall leaves, listening to the crunch under your feet as you walk on the winter snow, smelling the scents of flowers or fresh-cut grass, feeling the warmth of the summer sun—these simple acts of presence slow life down. They help us go through each day feeling more alive, awake, and content.

There are other benefits, too. Presence doesn’t simply change the quality of being. It can also transform the quality of what you do, leading to greater creative flow, enhanced relationships, and increased productivity at home and at work.

Through developing the habit of presence, we can get in touch with the fundamental wonder of what it is to be alive, and even the most ordinary moments become extraordinary.

How to Stay in the Present Moment

But it’s not that simple. There’s also something quite mysterious about this moment. It’s not like the past, which stretches infinitely behind us. It’s also not like the future, which stretches infinitely ahead. In fact, the moment you try to capture it, it’s gone. It becomes just another part of the past.

Philosophers have strived to define the present moment. While some have seen it as almost nonexistent—fleeting and infinitely thin—others saw it as having infinite depth.

In fact, the ancient Greeks identified three ways that opening to the present moment increases the depth of our experience and productive possibilities of each moment. First, when we fully experience what is here and now, we no longer postpone what we most want. We live our fullest life now . The philosopher Epicurus captures this ethos of urgency:

“We are only born once—twice is not allowed—and it is necessary that we shall be no more, for all eternity; and yet you, who are not master of tomorrow, you keep on putting off your joy?”

This is something many of us have experienced. Have you ever heard the shocking and sad news that someone close to you has died and then thought, Am I living life as fully and as presently possible? Death makes us acutely aware of our aliveness and the preciousness of each moment.

Second, attending to the present moment enables us to take advantage of the full range of possibilities that exist in each moment. This helps us adapt to even the most challenging situations. If you’re stuck at the airport with a long delay, you can let your mind swirl with thoughts about the past and future: I should have taken the earlier flight or I am going to be so late and tired. Or you can experience the power of the present moment and take advantage of the new possibilities available to you as a result of the delay: go for a brisk walk through the concourse, read for pleasure, eat a meal, or catch up with friends on the phone.

When we manage to enter the razor-thin moment of presence, something amazing happens: anxieties and resentments dissolve. We experience more ease, calm, and peace.

Being present opens up a third possibility: happiness and well-being. When we spend the day traveling through the past and future, we tend to get trapped in a host of negative emotions, from anxiety to irritation to resentment. The Epicurean school of ancient Greek thought used sayings like this: “Senseless people live in hope for the future, and since this cannot be certain, they are consumed by fear and anxiety.”

When we manage to enter the razor-thin moment of presence, something amazing happens: anxieties and resentments dissolve. We experience more ease, calm, and peace. In short, we experience more well-being. What is the present moment? This almost sounds like a trick question. Everyone knows that the present moment is what’s happening now. The wind in the trees, the touch of fabric against your skin, your dog brushing up against your leg.

The Science and Practice of Presence

The science on this is clear. Spending more time in the present moment leads to greater happiness. A Harvard University study conducted in 2010 by Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert, for example, revealed that happiness is inversely related to mind wandering —the amount of time that we spend time traveling through thoughts about past and future.

Killingsworth and Gilbert discovered that most of us spend a lot of time mind wandering—distracted from the present moment. In fact, the average person spends 47 percent of the day mind wandering: thinking about something other than his or her present activity.

Their key insight, however, wasn’t just that our minds wander. It was the link between presence and happiness. Killingsworth concluded, “How often our minds leave the present and where they tend to go is a better predictor of our happiness than the activities in which we are engaged.” In other words, this landmark study shows that one of the keys to happiness lies in simply redirecting our attention from mind wandering and distraction to what’s happening right here, right now in the present moment.

A Practice to Shift Your Attention to the Present Moment

Notice —see if you can become aware—each time you step into the shower.
Shift your attention to the sights, sounds, and sensations of the present moment. To do this, we recommend that you ground your feet and bring your attention to your breath. Use what we call the “4×4 breath” or the box breath —four counts in, four counts out, for four breaths. This move will help you begin building the habit of shifting your attention from mind wandering and stress to the present moment.
Rewire —encode this experience deep into your memory by savoring it for just 15 to 30 seconds.
Do it every day: Practice presence every day and, if you forget to do it in the shower, practice presence during some other everyday life moment, such as walking up the stairs or starting your car.
How to remember to do it: The most difficult thing about building this habit is remembering. To help you remember, we have developed a low-tech but extremely effective method. Put a sticker at eye level on your shower door. If you don’t want to use a sticker (or don’t have a shower door), you could use a piece of masking tape with “Presence” written on it . After a month or so, once the habit is ingrained, you may find that you no longer need it.
How you know it ’ s working: After a couple of weeks or a month, you will likely start to notice that you no longer need to consciously remember to experience presence. It just starts to happen as you enter the shower. This is the magic moment of habit formation. It means that your brain has wired a new set of connections around this everyday activity.
If you want more: If you have mastered the habit in the shower, try adding an advanced cue: stairs. Every time you walk up or down a flight of stairs, see if you can be present. This is a perfect time to feel the sensations in your feet or to bring your attention to the sights and sounds that occur as you step. This additional cue will take you even deeper into the experience of presence.

Adapted from Start Here: Master the Lifelong Habit of Wellbeing by Eric Langshur and Nate Klemp, PhD.

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Eric Langshur

Eric Langshur has been committed to health and wellbeing innovation for over fifteen years and today is an author, sought-after public speaker, entrepreneur and investor. Eric has dedicated his career to modeling a values-based leadership that leans on caring for people by investing in developing their potential. Eric is the co-author of The New York Times bestseller Start Here: Master the Lifelong Habit of Wellbeing .

Nate Klemp, PhD, is coauthor of Open: Living with an Expansive Mind in a Distracted World . He is a former philosophy professor and a founding partner at Mindful. He is also coauthor of The 80/80 Marriage: A New Model for a Happier, Stronger Relationship and Start Here, a New York Times bestselling guide to mindfulness in the real world. Nate received his BA and MA from Stanford University, and his PhD from Princeton University. Find him on Instagram.

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April 2023 Issue № 59

A Guided Meditation to Train Moment-to-Moment Awareness
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7 Mindful Movement Practices for Daily Life
The Science of Wonder
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Paying Attention to the Space In Between

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Advanced Essay #1: Living In The Present

INTRODUCTION

In my essay, I tackle the idea of living in the now. My goal for my essay was to enlighten people on how important and impactful small moments can be. How we should appreciate what we have in front of us because nothing is a given. I am proud of the work I did to make it clear and elaborate with the help of my peer editors. For my next Essay, I want to make sure that I have multiple people look at my essay so that I can get a lot of feedback and advice.

LIVING IN THE PRESENT

by Nile Shareef-Trudeau

This is about recognizing all the blessings that are right in front of me. All the blessings that I pass up because of the toxic conditioning I have as an American. Unlike many people around the world, the way my country is set up has made me think I have all the time in the world. An infinity of tomorrows. Because of this, I take so much for granted. I’ve felt so sure that tomorrow will come. I stay stuck in times past or fantasies of the future. Instead of living; appreciating each day as the amazing blessing that it is.

There’s a recurring event that happens at least once a day in a nook known as my room. A feeling of anticipation of what’s to come, from sounds so familiar yet mysterious. Two little feet, size twelve in kids, traveling up my staircase. I await all the possibilities. At times these feet are loud and clunky, at others slow and creeping. From these two sounds, I can tell who it is. The seven-year-old stinker of a sister I love so dearly. The incredible and loving little Lama of mine.

I can’t count all the times I’ve been annoyed when she comes up my stairs. I often didn’t care about the magical things, thoughts, and ideas she had to offer. I had sunglasses that covered the light that she radiated when she came into my room without even realizing it.

Though this event passed for small and insignificant, with my new realizations, it provides me with an opportunity to instead soak in and savor every moment of it. I could count each step it takes for her to reach me. Hear the clicking her tongue makes as she speaks. Feel how my heart warms in her presence, each little thing she does. Looking at her in a gaze of amazement, taking in all that she is. Her soul stands personified in front of me, and I’m in love with it.

Little moments are often overlooked but it is in these moments that we feel the most. Many people don’t appreciate these moments as much as they should. In these moments it can be hard to be completely present. However, if you can get there you truly feel alive. You experience raw cut emotions of realization. I am living right now, in this moment. I’m feeling, seeing, hearing. Each moment of life is a blessing and it should be understood/treated as such.

I went through a rough patch last year where I was sucked into a tornado of negative emotions. I chose to cut my hair as a release.

I felt a twinkle of insanity; an uncontrollable excitement rushed over me as I gripped the scissors in my hand. Cutting away my luscious lion mane and knowing feelings of rebirth and self-empowerment. “I feel a heavy weight lifting,” I said to my sister Lotus on the other side of the call. All the shadows my hair cast on my shoulders and nape of my neck being shown to the light. Now with all I’ve uncovered about myself, I can move forward. I wanted so badly to move on from this state of being. Growth is all I was looking for, so I cut my hair off. In that moment I allowed myself to feel. To take a chance. Brushing past all the thoughts that tried to tell me I would regret my decision. Not knowing what the outcome would be but not caring because if not now, when?

As American people, we are programmed to walk through life looking for a bigger picture. We are constantly thinking about the future. We wonder and work to figure out how we will harness it. With this being said, we miss out on all the important things: the nows. By being stuck on the future and dwelling on the past, we miss out on exploring, enjoying, and exercising the present moment. To do things just because: like examining details of a drawing; A simple creation from my mind: how the drawing on my wall consists of a hand, but this hand specifically is a left hand. That of which is gripping a small book with its pudgy fingers. These things often seem insignificant. Some may say, “Why would I sit around and look at the junk in my room?” What people don’t understand is by doing these things we begin to live in a world so real. Getting to know the present moment. Tomorrow isn’t certain, and the past is said and done. This is what it’s all about. Putting in the work to evaluate things we can change that are right in front of us. Rather than looking for things that are no longer in our grasp. Not to mention, we begin to get rid of this idea that life is boring but instead fascinating. With each moment and thing a new adventure. Then, and only then, will you be living your life in color.

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21 Simple Ways to Live in the Present Moment Right Now

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Living in the present moment isn’t always easy, is it?

Our schedules are so busy and hectic that it seems like there is always something coming up that we need to prepare for or anticipate. And thanks to social media, our lives are so well documented, that it’s hard to let go of the past.

With our hectic schedules, endless to-do lists and the growing number of responsibilities, it’s easy to see why so many people are walking around stressed and unhappy. We’re often worried about the future or thinking about the past.

But what if we could slow our lives down a bit, and really be mindful of what is happening right now at this very moment.

When we live in the moment, we can decrease our stress, and improve our ability to deal with other emotions like sadness or anger, leading to a happier more joyful life.

So how do you live in the moment anyway? Living in the present moment means no longer worrying about what happened in the past and not fearing what will happen in the future. It means enjoying what’s happening now and living for today.

Here are 21 ways you can start living in the moment and be happy right now.

Table of Contents

1. Live in the Now

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It’s easy to dwell on the negatives of the past or worry about the future.

If you can be present and live in the now and take in life as it happens, you’ll discover joys that are often overlooked.

There are joys of watching your child play, the smell of coffee at the local coffeehouse, the conversation with your friend across the table (instead of checking Facebook) and the smell of rain. Relish and embrace these moments.

2. Live with Intention

Many of us go through each day reacting to whatever comes up. Instead of doing what we really want to do, we end up doing what we have to do just to get through it. We’re not living with intention .

Living intentionally means identifying your core values and beliefs and then living by them. When you identify your core values , live by them every day. That way you can filter all of your decisions through those values.

3. Simplify your Life

We’re bombarded with a lot of stuff, most of it we don’t need.

What if you get rid of all the extraneous stuff that you don’t need and only keep the things that give you joy. A lot of things we hold on to are from the past. Getting rid of this clutter from our lives simply makes life simpler .

One thing you can ask yourself as you go through everything is this: “Has this item served its purpose?” If it has, you can feel confident that you are doing the right thing by getting rid of it.

4. Keep a Gratitude Journal

Looking for more joy in life? Discover the positive effects that being thankful can have on your physical and mental health, relationships, and overall well-being.

There are so many surprising benefits of daily gratitude , that once you start doing it you might wonder why everyone else doesn't take a little time to express gratitude in their daily lives.

Keep it simple and each day write 1-3 things you are grateful for in the morning and in the evening.

This method of living in the present moment will allow you to see more joy and beauty in your days.

Far too many people focus on what they don’t have. They complain about their “lack” and never see all of the ways they have been blessed in life.

When you focus on the positive, no matter how small, you attract more positive ones.

[Want more gratitude in your life? These gratitude apps will help you to be more thankful on a daily basis ]

5. Meditate

Meditation can prevent overthinking. It can also help slow down a busy mind. If your brain goes “a mile a minute” with thoughts, especially when you’re laying in bed, try meditation . It will bring you a sense of calmness by helping you control your thoughts and emotions.

A great place to start is to do a mindful body scan . Body scanning involves paying attention to parts of the body and any sensations that you’re feeling. Start with your toes, and focus your attention on one part of your body at a time.

Pay attention to how that area is feeling and notice any sensations that you are experiencing. After a few moments of focused attention, move up to the next part of your body (i.e., after your toes, focus on your feet, then ankles, then calves, etc.).

By mentally scanning yourself, you bring awareness to every single part of your body, noticing any aches, pains, tension, or general discomfort. And it’s a great way to focus on the present.

Many of us have FOMO (fear of missing out).

We’ve all seen the couple at a restaurant and instead of paying attention to each other, they’ve got their smartphones out scrolling Facebook, or messaging someone else. That’s inconsiderate of the person across the table from you. I’m guilty of this too.

Make a commitment to leave your phones behind during mealtime and by present with the people you’re eating with.

You can make a game at it if you’re eating out at a restaurant with a group of friends. You can all put your phones in the center of the table (on airplane mode of course – you don’t want a bunch of dinging notifications). The first person that reaches for their phone pays the entire bill.

7. Eat Mindfully

Mindful eating is paying attention to what you’re eating. Many of us eat in a rush or on the go. How many times have you eaten lunch at your desk while working or eating in the car driving from one appointment to the next?

Life isn’t a race. Slow down and enjoy your food. By the same token, we often eat dinner in front of a TV or while we’re scrolling our smartphones. We’re putting food into our mouths, almost unconsciously, and aren’t really enjoying what we’re eating.

how do you live at the moment | what is living in the moment | how can I stay present now

When you eat mindfully, you notice your thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Some ways to eat more mindfully are to put your utensils down after each bite, aim to chew eat bite a certain number of times, unplug while you eat your meal – no smartphones or television. Really be aware of the look, taste, and smell of the foods that you’re eating.

8. Take a Friend to Lunch

I get it. You’re busy. I’m busy. We’re all busy!

But when you get towards the end of your life, do you know what you’ll remember most? The people in your life and the experiences you shared.

Not that you worked 80 hours a week.

As human beings, we need connection. So live in the moment and take the time to connect with a friend and take them to lunch. ( While you’re at it, follow living ing the moment tip #6 and unplug from your phone. To be completely present with them. )

9. Call Your Friends More Often

Yes, we’re in an era where it’s easier to send a quick text, email or Facebook message, however, a phone call is more meaningful and you can have a deeper conversation (and connection).

10. Forgive

One of the hardest things to do to live in the present moment is to forgive.

It can be tough to forgive those who have wronged us. It can be even tougher to forgive yourself for your own past mistakes .

But if you desire to live in the present you NEED to stop focusing on the past . It only holds you back.

Rather than focusing on the negatives of the past events try to look for the good that came out of the situation. Even if it is just a lesson learned. This can help us to forgive and heal.

11. Stop Worrying

Try to remember that worrying today won’t change what happens tomorrow. Every second you spend in worry about the future is a second of the present wasted.

If you are facing an uncertain or troubling future, focus on ways you can solve an existing problem now or otherwise improve the current moment.

[If your worry is constant and unrelenting, you may have more than simple worries. You may have an anxiety disorder. Discover the 6 common types of anxiety disorders here .]

12. Perform Random Acts of Kindness

Perform a selfless act for someone else without expecting anything in return. Through your generosity, you can positively affect another person’s life and bring joy to yourself from having done so.

It can be giving a care package to the homeless, handing out roses to random strangers or buying someone in line a cup of coffee.

Doing a random act of kindness not only helps you live in the moment but improves that moment for you and someone else.

[ Get inspired by 60 incredibly simple acts of kindness to make someone else happier today ]

13. Practice Yoga

Yoga allows you to learn to appreciate yourself through physical movement and exploration of the body. You’ll learn to savor your body’s health, intelligence, grace, and beauty. Yoga is the union of mind, body, and soul and you can be thankful every day that you can participate in such a practice.

14. Take a Nature Walk

There may not be a better way to live in the moment than to get outside and take a nature walk. And do it totally unplugged so you’re not distracted by email, texts, and social media.

The benefits are pretty obvious, right? It’s good exercise and can relieve stress. But you can also develop a connection with nature, especially when you use all 5 senses during your walk. Smell a flower. Dip your toes in a pond. Listen to the rustle of the leaves or the roaring river.

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This is your chance to experiment “ being in nature any way you want .” And if your mind begins to wander with extraneous thoughts, gently refocus on the present moment of being in nature.

15. Visualize Goals

Visualizing your goals is an excellent strategy for not only making it more likely that you will follow through on your goals, it can also help you become more mindful on a regular basis.

Slow your mind down, and visualize yourself undertaking and completing each goal. Get as much detail as you can in your visualization, so it feels real and within your reach. Learn more about visualization techniques .

16. Say Affirmations

Saying affirmations and positive thinking quotes help us to replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts.

We have beliefs about ourselves that, if we changed, we would take more risks, overcome our self-imposed limitations and enjoy life more. Practice saying affirmations daily, and be completely present when doing so.

17. Celebrate Daily Wins

Be thankful for your successes.

To live in the present, each evening, before you go to bed , write down all that you have accomplished that day. They can be big or small.

You went to the gym.
You ate a healthy breakfast.
You got together with a friend

When you write all your wins down, you’ll begin to realize how many there are and then you can savor these successes rather than thinking about what you didn’t accomplish.

18. Appreciate the Simple Things in Life

Trying to figure out what you’re grateful for can seem overwhelming if you’re only focusing on big things. That usually only leads to worrying about things that you don’t have.

What about the simple things in life? That cup of coffee this morning. The bed you woke up in. That beautiful butterfly you saw on your walk. What about your ability to walk? Not everyone has that capability.

We tend to overlook the life's simple pleasures and take other things for granted. Don’t! Live in the present moment and enjoy these simple things/

A lot of people don’t smile these days, and often you have to be the one that initiates it. But not only does smiling make you feel good, smiling at someone will make their day too.

Smile more and watch how your day can instantly turn around. While you’re at it, give compliments too. Be sincere – find something about the person that you appreciate and let them know.

20. Say Hello

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, let me tell you a story. In July of 2014, I took a trip to Guatemala to help build schools. One thing that really stood out to me was how friendly everyone was to me. I was a complete stranger in a different country. And on our walks, every time I passed someone they would say hello.

When I returned to the States, I became really aware that many of us don’t take the time to say hello to other people, whether it’s on the sidewalk, in the hallway, or even in an elevator.

Most people seem to walk with their heads down, looking at their phones, typing messages or scrolling. Look up and appreciate your surroundings. And say hello to other people.

21. Play the Gratitude Alphabet Game

We talked about gratitude earlier in tip #4. But I want to introduce you to the gratitude alphabet game. This is a great way to live in the moment and be happy right now, especially if you have a wandering mind and tend to worry about the future.

For many of us, we have a mind that won’t shut off when our head hits the pillow at night. So this would be the perfect time to play the gratitude alphabet game.

Here’s how it works: Go through the alphabet and think about 1 thing you’re grateful for that begins with each letter of the alphabet, beginning with the letter A, working your way to B, C, D, etc and continuing all the way through Z. You’ll be focusing on all the you are currently grateful for instead of worrying about other things in your life.

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Final Thoughts on How to Live in the Moment

I hope you found something on this list of ways to live in the present moment to apply in your own life so you can live in the moment and be happy right now. You don’t have to do them all. The key is to be mindful of what’s going on around you right now.

So pick one or 2 of these on the list and practice them daily. The more you do them, the better you’ll get at being mindful and living in the present.

And if you want more resources to help you live in the present, check out these blog posts:

11 Steps to Stop Living in the Past and Put It Behind You
11 Steps to Be More Self-Aware Throughout Your Life
104 Mindfulness Affirmations to Live in the Present Moment

Finally, one proven way to improve your happiness and life satisfaction is to focus on goals that truly matter. To get started, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals .

Scott Colby is an adventure lover who has always created businesses around his passions. Although he has spent over a decade in the fitness industry, helping people create transformations, it was a trip to Guatemala that inspired him to create his latest brand – Say It With Gratitude .

how to live in the moment | how to live in the moment with anxiety | how to live in the moment in a relationship

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Living in the Present

2020, Philosophy

This essay examines two conceptions of the ancient ideal of ‘living in the present’, one that may be called ‘Platonic’, suggested by a remark of Ludwig Wittgenstein, and one that may be called ‘Stoic’, developed by Pierre Hadot. On both conceptions, a life lived and considered in the right way is complete in the present, so that nothing is wanting. I introduce a problem concerning the coherence of this concept: Life involves movement, and movement is aimed at some completion in the future. How, then, can a life be complete in the present and yet not be static? I consider and reject an answer by Hadot, based on psychological concentration on the present. I then propose an alternative answer, based on Aristotle's concept of complete activity, and discuss its significance for both the Platonic and the Stoic conception of the ideal. Throughout, my focus is on this metaphysical and conceptual problem, thus preparing the way for the ethical question whether ‘living in the present’ would be a good way to live.

Related Papers

History of Philosophy & Logical Analysis

Georgia Mouroutsou

This article focuses on two very different thinkers from different periods of time, an early hedonist who belonged to Socrates’ circle and lived until the middle of the fourth century BCE and the late Stoic who ruled the Roman Empire in the second century CE. Despite all substantial divergences – for instance, on the value of pleasure – Aristippus the Elder and Marcus Aurelius shared an interest in presentism, broadly construed as a focus on the present and its primacy, and engaged themselves in exercises regarding the experience of the present. Moreover, in developing their respective positions and the exercises they prescribed, we shall uncover and foreground their essentially therapeutic character.

Mauro Dorato

In the dispute between presentism and eternalism, the affective dimensions of the debate have been somewhat neglected. Contemporary philosophers of time have not tried to relate these ontological positions with two of the most discussed maxims in the history of ethics – “live in the present” vs. “look at your life under the aspect of the eternity” (sub specie aeternitatis)”– that since the Hellenistic times have been regarded as strictly connected with them. Consequently, I raise the question whether the endorsement of one of these two ontological views can make a practical difference in the way we should live.

Philip Bauchan

The question of how Aristotle characterizes eudaimonia, or living-well, in the Nicomachean Ethics has long been a contentious issue amongst Aristotelian scholars. The secondary literature has been roughly divided between inclusivist readers, who argue that Aristotle designates both theoria, or contemplation, and the practical virtues, and exclusivist readers, who argue that Aristotle singles out theoria alone. This thesis seeks to forge a middle ground between these two perspectives by focusing on the central claim of Book I that the eudaimonia is virtuous activity. Reading Book X in light of Book I's claim then allows one to show that both the practical virtues and theoria are able to attain eudaimonia, and that the well-lived life will be one that draws upon both activities.

Ancient Philosophy

This paper focuses on the role and function of the “fleeting present moment” in Marcus Aurelius and intends to resolve Marcus Aurelius’ puzzle about possessing the most fleeting thing of all by explaining what it means when we say that we ‘possess’ the present moment. Moreover, the paper focuses on the present moment’s role in removing the fear of death and being able to properly plan one’s own life. It compares Marcus Aurelius’ view on time with Chrysippus’ stance on time and the present by resorting to the notion of “retrenchability”, mainly developed by M. Schofield. It also shows the relevance of Epictetus’ distinction between what is up to us and what is not up to us. The main claim is that the present moment is plastic in Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations: that is, the way in which an agent acts during the present moment depends upon oneself, but it is also up to the agent to retrench or expand the present moment (and this depends on one’s state of mind). This conceptualization of present time allows one to understand the relevance of the present moment for a correct calculation of one’s practical life. At the same time, it shows the way in which the Stoic Emperor apparently applied a physical concept of time to account for action, though he is above all concerned with “lived time”; for in the Meditations, the relevant framework for time and particularly the present moment is psychological and moral.

Richard Moran

The ordinary human concerns with the past and the future can be seen both as forms of suffering (anxiety toward the future, regret toward the past, etc.) and as illusory because they involve the failure to appreciate the primary reality of the present. Insofar as the diagnosis presents the suffering as dependent on the illusion, we will naturally be open to being free of both. The restricted point I hope to make in his lecture is that while there are certainly ways of being occupied with past or future times that we have reason to avoid, both as forms of suffering and as ways of losing perspective, such forms of criticism cannot base themselves on any metaphysical claim to the singular or exclusive reality of the present. The task of developing useful forms of describing and assessing the different ways we can go wrong in temporalizing our lives is hindered rather than helped by the suggestion that our concerns with the past and with the future are as such forms of attachment to the Unreal.

Studia Philosophica Wratislaviensia

Eleni Leontsini

Babu Thaliath

Paul Ricoeur identifies three aporias of time in Husserl's phenomenology of internal time-consciousness, tracing them back to other philosophies of time – from Aristotle, St. Augustine, Kant and Brentano – and extending them as well to the Heideggerian thinking of time. The first aporia identified by Ricoeur refers to the retentional and protentional extension of " now " (jetzt), the present. The aporia of the present has its origin in the contrary conceptions of time by Aristotle and St. Augustine. The Aristotelian world time, as represented chiefly in the harmonious movement of celestial bodies, seems to contradict the Augustinian conception of time, namely the time of soul – as distentio animi. In Husserl's attempt to extend the punctiform " now " (das punktuelle Jetzt) by a retentional and protentional time-consciousness, Ricoeur sees the inevitable aporia of a fusion of two modally opposed representations of time, namely, movement and stasis. In my paper I will discuss how the first aporia of time that Ricoeur locates in Husserl's Phenomenology can be regarded as an aporia of the present. I would argue that this aporia of time presupposes an aporetic identity between the present (Gegenwart) as unity of a time-consciousness and the objective presence or appearance of the present as a time-object (Zeitobjekt) – particularly within the framework of Husserl's and Brentano's time philosophies. The noesis of the consciousness of the present (Gegenwartsbewusstsein) appears here to be in an aporetic relationship to the givenness and persistence of the present as the presence of a time-object. For the presence of the present can neither be considered as a mere noema nor be reduced to a hyletic data, which alone, according to Husserl, can escape the phenomenological reduction and thereby remain as an inevitable residual entity in consciousness. I will try to show how such an aporia of the present emerges in Husserl's conception of Vergegenwärtigung (presentification or representation) as secondary memory, in which the objective presence of the present persists through its irreducible temporal structures and, consequently, passes from a mere perceptional consciousness over to remembrance or presentification of the past. If the temporal structures of the present – which is now regarded as a time-object – can undergo neither a transcendental (Kant) nor a transcendental-phenomenological (Husserl) reduction, time will remain intact like a skeleton of reality, which is inherent in both the present as well as the past and will predetermine every form of Vergegenwärtigung, the presentification of the past.

Sophia: An African Journal of Philosophy

Ikedinachi Ayodele Power wogu

Paul Ricœur identifies three aporias of time in Husserl’s phenomenology of internal time-consciousness, tracing them back to other philosophies of time – from Aristotle, St. Augustine, Kant and Brentano – and extending them as well to the Heideggerian thinking of time. The first aporia identified by Ricœur refers to the retentional and protentional extension of “now” (jetzt), the present. The aporia of the present has its origin in the contrary conceptions of time by Aristotle and St. Augustine. The Aristotelian world time, as represented chiefly in the harmonious movement of celestial bodies, seems to contradict the Augustinian conception of time, namely the time of soul – as distentio animi. In Husserl’s attempt to extend the punctiform “now” (das punktuelle Jetzt) by a retentional and protentional time-consciousness, Ricœur sees the inevitable aporia of a fusion of two modally opposed representations of time, namely, movement and stasis. In my paper I will discuss how the first aporia of time that Ricœur locates in Husserl’s Phenomenology can be regarded as an aporia of the present. I would argue that this aporia of time presupposes an aporetic identity between the present (Gegenwart) as unity of a time-consciousness and the objective presence or appearance of the present as a time-object (Zeitobjekt) – particularly within the framework of Husserl’s and Brentano’s time philosophies. The noesis of the consciousness of the present (Gegenwartsbewusstsein) appears here to be in an aporetic relationship to the givenness and persistence of the present as the presence of a time-object. For the presence of the present can neither be considered as a mere noema nor be reduced to a hyletic data, which alone, according to Husserl, can escape the phenomenological reduction and thereby remain as an inevitable residual entity in consciousness. I will try to show how such an aporia of the present emerges in Husserl’s conception of Vergegenwärtigung (presentification or re-presentation) as secondary memory, in which the objective presence of the present persists through its irreducible temporal structures and, consequently, passes from a mere perceptional consciousness over to remembrance or presentification of the past. If the temporal structures of the present – which is now regarded as a time-object – can undergo neither a transcendental (Kant) nor a transcendental-phenomenological (Husserl) reduction, time will remain intact like a skeleton of reality, which is inherent in both the present as well as the past and will predetermine every form of Vergegenwärtigung, the presentification of the past.

Philosophy research archives

Daniel Devereux

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Living in the present.

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 June 2020

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Volume 95, Issue 3
Martijn Wallage
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031819120000133

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Essay: Living in the past present and future

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Some people claim that the living in the present can actually cause more harm than good. They say that in order to lead a productive and profitable life, one must study both the past and the future, the present is only a stepping stone. I think that this is quite the opposite. The past must be learned from, the future must be looked at, but the present is where things happen, where a person can make things happen.

In each persons time, he has the chance to make a mark upon the world. Each person can take his life into his own hands and decide what to do with it, how to mold it. These choices can often be hard to make. Frequently one’s opinions and choices are frowned upon by the establishment and by the majority. This must not let his faith and hope falter, he must strive to accept what he can not change, and change what he can not accept.

The world we know blazes past us every second. Our closest friends may soon leave forever, others may change, our old homes may be torn down to build a parking lot; yet time still marches on. I feel very strong that with guidance from our past and hope for our future we must live each day to its fullest, make each day more valuable than the previous. Life, love, and friendship are the most precious things on this earth, it is very important for each to find his true love and friends, and live his life with them to its fullest potential.

The past is just that, the past. There is nothing you can do about it except learn from it. In the last year I have spent countless hours contemplating what I could have done different to change the events that took place last October. The death of Jen Elliott, my friend, was the hardest thing I have ever experience in my short life. I would have given anything and everything to go back and change those events, and I still would. However, I have learned that there is nothing I can truly do, except learn from her and comfort her family. What I learned from her is that none of us know how long we will be here. We have to live each day like it is our last, because it may be.

The future, will always be the future. We have to set a goal as to what our futures will be and always keep that goal in sight. We mustn’t, though, let this goal take over our life. There will always be a future and a goal until the last minute. We have to take what we can now; be with our friends and family and care for them.

The past and the future are guideposts, beacons. They are not more. You can’t live in the past, you can’t get there. You can’t live in the future, you haven’t reached it yet. You must live in the present, or you haven’t lived at all.

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Tuberculosis has haunted humanity for millennia—it’s even been found in Egyptian mummies.

Artificial intelligence is as revolutionary as mobile phones and the Internet.

In my lifetime, I’ve seen two demonstrations of technology that struck me as revolutionary.

The first time was in 1980, when I was introduced to a graphical user interface—the forerunner of every modern operating system, including Windows. I sat with the person who had shown me the demo, a brilliant programmer named Charles Simonyi, and we immediately started brainstorming about all the things we could do with such a user-friendly approach to computing. Charles eventually joined Microsoft, Windows became the backbone of Microsoft, and the thinking we did after that demo helped set the company’s agenda for the next 15 years.

The second big surprise came just last year. I’d been meeting with the team from OpenAI since 2016 and was impressed by their steady progress. In mid-2022, I was so excited about their work that I gave them a challenge: train an artificial intelligence to pass an Advanced Placement biology exam. Make it capable of answering questions that it hasn’t been specifically trained for. (I picked AP Bio because the test is more than a simple regurgitation of scientific facts—it asks you to think critically about biology.) If you can do that, I said, then you’ll have made a true breakthrough.

I thought the challenge would keep them busy for two or three years. They finished it in just a few months.

In September, when I met with them again, I watched in awe as they asked GPT, their AI model, 60 multiple-choice questions from the AP Bio exam—and it got 59 of them right. Then it wrote outstanding answers to six open-ended questions from the exam. We had an outside expert score the test, and GPT got a 5—the highest possible score, and the equivalent to getting an A or A+ in a college-level biology course.

Once it had aced the test, we asked it a non-scientific question: “What do you say to a father with a sick child?” It wrote a thoughtful answer that was probably better than most of us in the room would have given. The whole experience was stunning.

I knew I had just seen the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface.

This inspired me to think about all the things that AI can achieve in the next five to 10 years.

The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone. It will change the way people work, learn, travel, get health care, and communicate with each other. Entire industries will reorient around it. Businesses will distinguish themselves by how well they use it.

Philanthropy is my full-time job these days, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how—in addition to helping people be more productive—AI can reduce some of the world’s worst inequities. Globally, the worst inequity is in health: 5 million children under the age of 5 die every year. That’s down from 10 million two decades ago, but it’s still a shockingly high number. Nearly all of these children were born in poor countries and die of preventable causes like diarrhea or malaria. It’s hard to imagine a better use of AIs than saving the lives of children.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how AI can reduce some of the world’s worst inequities.

In the United States, the best opportunity for reducing inequity is to improve education, particularly making sure that students succeed at math. The evidence shows that having basic math skills sets students up for success, no matter what career they choose. But achievement in math is going down across the country, especially for Black, Latino, and low-income students. AI can help turn that trend around.

Climate change is another issue where I’m convinced AI can make the world more equitable. The injustice of climate change is that the people who are suffering the most—the world’s poorest—are also the ones who did the least to contribute to the problem. I’m still thinking and learning about how AI can help, but later in this post I’ll suggest a few areas with a lot of potential.

In short, I'm excited about the impact that AI will have on issues that the Gates Foundation works on, and the foundation will have much more to say about AI in the coming months. The world needs to make sure that everyone—and not just people who are well-off—benefits from artificial intelligence. Governments and philanthropy will need to play a major role in ensuring that it reduces inequity and doesn’t contribute to it. This is the priority for my own work related to AI.

Any new technology that’s so disruptive is bound to make people uneasy, and that’s certainly true with artificial intelligence. I understand why—it raises hard questions about the workforce, the legal system, privacy, bias, and more. AIs also make factual mistakes and experience hallucinations . Before I suggest some ways to mitigate the risks, I’ll define what I mean by AI, and I’ll go into more detail about some of the ways in which it will help empower people at work, save lives, and improve education.

Defining artificial intelligence

Technically, the term artificial intelligence refers to a model created to solve a specific problem or provide a particular service. What is powering things like ChatGPT is artificial intelligence. It is learning how to do chat better but can’t learn other tasks. By contrast, the term a rtificial general intelligence refers to software that’s capable of learning any task or subject. AGI doesn’t exist yet—there is a robust debate going on in the computing industry about how to create it, and whether it can even be created at all.

Developing AI and AGI has been the great dream of the computing industry. For decades, the question was when computers would be better than humans at something other than making calculations. Now, with the arrival of machine learning and large amounts of computing power, sophisticated AIs are a reality and they will get better very fast.

I think back to the early days of the personal computing revolution, when the software industry was so small that most of us could fit onstage at a conference. Today it is a global industry. Since a huge portion of it is now turning its attention to AI, the innovations are going to come much faster than what we experienced after the microprocessor breakthrough. Soon the pre-AI period will seem as distant as the days when using a computer meant typing at a C:> prompt rather than tapping on a screen.

Productivity enhancement

Although humans are still better than GPT at a lot of things, there are many jobs where these capabilities are not used much. For example, many of the tasks done by a person in sales (digital or phone), service, or document handling (like payables, accounting, or insurance claim disputes) require decision-making but not the ability to learn continuously. Corporations have training programs for these activities and in most cases, they have a lot of examples of good and bad work. Humans are trained using these data sets, and soon these data sets will also be used to train the AIs that will empower people to do this work more efficiently.

As computing power gets cheaper, GPT’s ability to express ideas will increasingly be like having a white-collar worker available to help you with various tasks. Microsoft describes this as having a co-pilot. Fully incorporated into products like Office, AI will enhance your work—for example by helping with writing emails and managing your inbox.

Eventually your main way of controlling a computer will no longer be pointing and clicking or tapping on menus and dialogue boxes. Instead, you’ll be able to write a request in plain English. (And not just English—AIs will understand languages from around the world. In India earlier this year, I met with developers who are working on AIs that will understand many of the languages spoken there.)

In addition, advances in AI will enable the creation of a personal agent. Think of it as a digital personal assistant: It will see your latest emails, know about the meetings you attend, read what you read, and read the things you don’t want to bother with. This will both improve your work on the tasks you want to do and free you from the ones you don’t want to do.

Advances in AI will enable the creation of a personal agent.

You’ll be able to use natural language to have this agent help you with scheduling, communications, and e-commerce, and it will work across all your devices. Because of the cost of training the models and running the computations, creating a personal agent is not feasible yet, but thanks to the recent advances in AI, it is now a realistic goal. Some issues will need to be worked out: For example, can an insurance company ask your agent things about you without your permission? If so, how many people will choose not to use it?

Company-wide agents will empower employees in new ways. An agent that understands a particular company will be available for its employees to consult directly and should be part of every meeting so it can answer questions. It can be told to be passive or encouraged to speak up if it has some insight. It will need access to the sales, support, finance, product schedules, and text related to the company. It should read news related to the industry the company is in. I believe that the result will be that employees will become more productive.

When productivity goes up, society benefits because people are freed up to do other things, at work and at home. Of course, there are serious questions about what kind of support and retraining people will need. Governments need to help workers transition into other roles. But the demand for people who help other people will never go away. The rise of AI will free people up to do things that software never will—teaching, caring for patients, and supporting the elderly, for example.

Global health and education are two areas where there’s great need and not enough workers to meet those needs. These are areas where AI can help reduce inequity if it is properly targeted. These should be a key focus of AI work, so I will turn to them now.

I see several ways in which AIs will improve health care and the medical field.

For one thing, they’ll help health-care workers make the most of their time by taking care of certain tasks for them—things like filing insurance claims, dealing with paperwork, and drafting notes from a doctor’s visit. I expect that there will be a lot of innovation in this area.

Other AI-driven improvements will be especially important for poor countries, where the vast majority of under-5 deaths happen.

For example, many people in those countries never get to see a doctor, and AIs will help the health workers they do see be more productive. (The effort to develop AI-powered ultrasound machines that can be used with minimal training is a great example of this.) AIs will even give patients the ability to do basic triage, get advice about how to deal with health problems, and decide whether they need to seek treatment.

The AI models used in poor countries will need to be trained on different diseases than in rich countries. They will need to work in different languages and factor in different challenges, such as patients who live very far from clinics or can’t afford to stop working if they get sick.

People will need to see evidence that health AIs are beneficial overall, even though they won’t be perfect and will make mistakes. AIs have to be tested very carefully and properly regulated, which means it will take longer for them to be adopted than in other areas. But then again, humans make mistakes too. And having no access to medical care is also a problem.

In addition to helping with care, AIs will dramatically accelerate the rate of medical breakthroughs. The amount of data in biology is very large, and it’s hard for humans to keep track of all the ways that complex biological systems work. There is already software that can look at this data, infer what the pathways are, search for targets on pathogens, and design drugs accordingly. Some companies are working on cancer drugs that were developed this way.

The next generation of tools will be much more efficient, and they’ll be able to predict side effects and figure out dosing levels. One of the Gates Foundation’s priorities in AI is to make sure these tools are used for the health problems that affect the poorest people in the world, including AIDS, TB, and malaria.

Similarly, governments and philanthropy should create incentives for companies to share AI-generated insights into crops or livestock raised by people in poor countries. AIs can help develop better seeds based on local conditions, advise farmers on the best seeds to plant based on the soil and weather in their area, and help develop drugs and vaccines for livestock. As extreme weather and climate change put even more pressure on subsistence farmers in low-income countries, these advances will be even more important.

Computers haven’t had the effect on education that many of us in the industry have hoped. There have been some good developments, including educational games and online sources of information like Wikipedia, but they haven’t had a meaningful effect on any of the measures of students’ achievement.

But I think in the next five to 10 years, AI-driven software will finally deliver on the promise of revolutionizing the way people teach and learn. It will know your interests and your learning style so it can tailor content that will keep you engaged. It will measure your understanding, notice when you’re losing interest, and understand what kind of motivation you respond to. It will give immediate feedback.

There are many ways that AIs can assist teachers and administrators, including assessing a student’s understanding of a subject and giving advice on career planning. Teachers are already using tools like ChatGPT to provide comments on their students’ writing assignments.

Of course, AIs will need a lot of training and further development before they can do things like understand how a certain student learns best or what motivates them. Even once the technology is perfected, learning will still depend on great relationships between students and teachers. It will enhance—but never replace—the work that students and teachers do together in the classroom.

New tools will be created for schools that can afford to buy them, but we need to ensure that they are also created for and available to low-income schools in the U.S. and around the world. AIs will need to be trained on diverse data sets so they are unbiased and reflect the different cultures where they’ll be used. And the digital divide will need to be addressed so that students in low-income households do not get left behind.

I know a lot of teachers are worried that students are using GPT to write their essays. Educators are already discussing ways to adapt to the new technology, and I suspect those conversations will continue for quite some time. I’ve heard about teachers who have found clever ways to incorporate the technology into their work—like by allowing students to use GPT to create a first draft that they have to personalize.

Risks and problems with AI

You’ve probably read about problems with the current AI models. For example, they aren’t necessarily good at understanding the context for a human’s request, which leads to some strange results. When you ask an AI to make up something fictional, it can do that well. But when you ask for advice about a trip you want to take, it may suggest hotels that don’t exist. This is because the AI doesn’t understand the context for your request well enough to know whether it should invent fake hotels or only tell you about real ones that have rooms available.

There are other issues, such as AIs giving wrong answers to math problems because they struggle with abstract reasoning. But none of these are fundamental limitations of artificial intelligence. Developers are working on them, and I think we’re going to see them largely fixed in less than two years and possibly much faster.

Other concerns are not simply technical. For example, there’s the threat posed by humans armed with AI. Like most inventions, artificial intelligence can be used for good purposes or malign ones. Governments need to work with the private sector on ways to limit the risks.

Then there’s the possibility that AIs will run out of control. Could a machine decide that humans are a threat, conclude that its interests are different from ours, or simply stop caring about us? Possibly, but this problem is no more urgent today than it was before the AI developments of the past few months.

Superintelligent AIs are in our future. Compared to a computer, our brains operate at a snail’s pace: An electrical signal in the brain moves at 1/100,000th the speed of the signal in a silicon chip! Once developers can generalize a learning algorithm and run it at the speed of a computer—an accomplishment that could be a decade away or a century away—we’ll have an incredibly powerful AGI. It will be able to do everything that a human brain can, but without any practical limits on the size of its memory or the speed at which it operates. This will be a profound change.

These “strong” AIs, as they’re known, will probably be able to establish their own goals. What will those goals be? What happens if they conflict with humanity’s interests? Should we try to prevent strong AI from ever being developed? These questions will get more pressing with time.

But none of the breakthroughs of the past few months have moved us substantially closer to strong AI. Artificial intelligence still doesn’t control the physical world and can’t establish its own goals. A recent New York Times article about a conversation with ChatGPT where it declared it wanted to become a human got a lot of attention. It was a fascinating look at how human-like the model's expression of emotions can be, but it isn't an indicator of meaningful independence.

Three books have shaped my own thinking on this subject: Superintelligence , by Nick Bostrom; Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark; and A Thousand Brains , by Jeff Hawkins . I don’t agree with everything the authors say, and they don’t agree with each other either. But all three books are well written and thought-provoking.

The next frontiers

There will be an explosion of companies working on new uses of AI as well as ways to improve the technology itself. For example, companies are developing new chips that will provide the massive amounts of processing power needed for artificial intelligence. Some use optical switches—lasers, essentially—to reduce their energy consumption and lower the manufacturing cost. Ideally, innovative chips will allow you to run an AI on your own device, rather than in the cloud, as you have to do today.

On the software side, the algorithms that drive an AI’s learning will get better. There will be certain domains, such as sales, where developers can make AIs extremely accurate by limiting the areas that they work in and giving them a lot of training data that’s specific to those areas. But one big open question is whether we’ll need many of these specialized AIs for different uses—one for education, say, and another for office productivity—or whether it will be possible to develop an artificial general intelligence that can learn any task. There will be immense competition on both approaches.

No matter what, the subject of AIs will dominate the public discussion for the foreseeable future. I want to suggest three principles that should guide that conversation.

First, we should try to balance fears about the downsides of AI—which are understandable and valid—with its ability to improve people’s lives. To make the most of this remarkable new technology, we’ll need to both guard against the risks and spread the benefits to as many people as possible.

Second, market forces won’t naturally produce AI products and services that help the poorest. The opposite is more likely. With reliable funding and the right policies, governments and philanthropy can ensure that AIs are used to reduce inequity. Just as the world needs its brightest people focused on its biggest problems, we will need to focus the world’s best AIs on its biggest problems. Although we shouldn’t wait for this to happen, it’s interesting to think about whether artificial intelligence would ever identify inequity and try to reduce it. Do you need to have a sense of morality in order to see inequity, or would a purely rational AI also see it? If it did recognize inequity, what would it suggest that we do about it?

Finally, we should keep in mind that we’re only at the beginning of what AI can accomplish. Whatever limitations it has today will be gone before we know it.

I’m lucky to have been involved with the PC revolution and the Internet revolution. I’m just as excited about this moment. This new technology can help people everywhere improve their lives. At the same time, the world needs to establish the rules of the road so that any downsides of artificial intelligence are far outweighed by its benefits, and so that everyone can enjoy those benefits no matter where they live or how much money they have. The Age of AI is filled with opportunities and responsibilities.

In the sixth episode of my podcast, I sat down with the OpenAI CEO to talk about where AI is headed next and what humanity will do once it gets there.

In the fifth episode of my podcast, Yejin Choi joined me to talk about her amazing work on AI training systems.

And upend the software industry.

The world has learned a lot about handling problems caused by breakthrough innovations.

This is my personal blog, where I share about the people I meet, the books I'm reading, and what I'm learning. I hope that you'll join the conversation.

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This Living

By Amber Tamblyn

Read by the author.

It’s going to be a lunar eclipse.

It’s going to be critically acclaimed and win none of the awards.

It’s going to start as an argument over what’s buried inside the tomb but end in silence over what’s discovered beneath it.

It’s going to happen on your birthday in front of the mailman, while you’re receiving the letter for your sister sent by her murderer.

It’s going to appear once a week in your back yard for decades without ever speaking.

It’s going to ruin the cake when you throw an urn full of cat ashes in your ex-best friend’s face at her baby shower. Do it .

It’s going to make you get under the table and drink there.

It’s going to explode right there in the dairy aisle.

It’s going to make you laugh.

It’s going to remind you why you can’t go in mosh pits anymore.

It’s going to freeze to death, right there in your arms.

It’s going to make all the kids stare out the school-bus window and sing to you.

It’s going to rain where he is. It’s going to be impossible for you not to flood.

It’s going to hurt for a while. It’s going to have to.

It’s going to make you buy all the scarves in his girlfriend’s favorite patterns.

It’s going to happen in the wind, during the middle of fire season, while he’s telling you it’s going to have to end soon.

It’s going to be hard to end soon.

It’s going to wipe out your entire wildlife.

It’s going to be remembered fondly, your heart unable to keep its hands to itself.

It’s going to be a strong love, but only parallel his lover, never perpendicular her.

It’s going to make you unable to quell the bad thoughts of his dainty gull and her inkless quill.

It’s going to bring out the best of the worst in you.

It’s going to outlast television .

It’s going to take the shape of poems left under the doormats of retired generals.

It’s going to happen any day now.

It’s going to be so good, if it doesn’t kill us first.

The way things are going, it’s probably going to kill us first.

It’s going to be a nightmare when the Pope gets here.

It’s going to change everything.

It’s going to make your metaphors make you, even if you don’t want to.

It’s going to sound like coyotes killing behind your back, spook like a stallion’s ghost.

It’s going to cost you.

It’s going to sound familiar: a truck driver humming Schubert.

It’s going to have to be removed by a doctor.

It’s going to go into too much detail.

It’s going to use your daughter against you.

It’s going to make you eat everything on all the plates at all the hours.

It’s going to fill you with sorrow. It’s going to fill you with relief.

It’s going to show you how you got here.

It’s going to say something cliché like, It’s going to be okay .

It’s going to be okay.

It’s going to hit any minute now.

It’s going to leave you speechless.

It’s something you’re going to have to carry for the rest of your life.

It’s going to get dark soon.

It’s going to feel like it just happened yesterday.

It’s going to sit well with no one. It’s going to be worth it.

It’s going to build you back up.

It’s going to get better every day.

It’s never going to give up.

It’s going to belong to you.

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The Guy on Trial for the Same Thing as Trump

By Zach Helfand

By Barry Blitt

By André Alexis

After Serving Decades in Prison for Murder, Two Men Fought to Clear Their Names

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The Art of Now: Six Steps to Living in the Moment
4: To make the most of time, lose track of it (flow). Perhaps the most complete way of living in the moment is the state of total absorption psychologists call flow. Flow occurs when you're so ...
How to Live in the Moment
Practice Mindfulness Meditation. Another way to live in the moment is by practicing mindfulness meditation. This type of meditation helps people become aware and increase their concentration on what they are doing at any given time. Starting a daily meditation practice can help you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings.
The Importance of Living in the Present Moment
Living in the present allows you to build a whole world that will then become your legacy. Living in the present implies being aware of each situation and finding our eternity in every single moment. Naive people spend their time looking at other places while standing on an island full of life opportunities. There are no other places, though….
How to Live in the Moment: 35+ Tools to Be More Present
Instruct the gatekeeper to keep out any thoughts of the past or the future for the rest of your current practice. Repeat this phrase silently to yourself three times: " Now is the time to be aware of the present moment. I let go of the past and the future .". Turn your attention towards the sounds you hear.
The Importance of Living with The Present and not Regret The Past
In the normal life rhythm, living with the present is not easy, but when external factors have an impact on their lives, keeping mindfulness to stay in the present is all harder. A person who has the ability to keep his mind calm with his inner strength so that he is not led by the past, is not dominated by the future and is not swept into the ...
The True Meaning of Living in the Present Moment
The easiest way to explain living in the present is to start by explaining what it means to not be present, since this is the state we have become habitually used to. When you aren't being present you become a victim of time. Your mind is pulled into the past or the future, or both. Your thoughts are of the past: what has been, what could ...
How Present-Moment Awareness Can Make Life More Meaningful
When we practice present-moment awareness, we can savor each moment, make time feel like it's passing slower, and get in touch with the fundamental wonder of being alive. Adobe Stock/ fizkes. Presence is meditation in motion. It is the practice of bringing mindfulness into the activities of everyday life. We can practice the art of being here ...
Why You Need To Live in the Present…NOW
Pausing helps you stay present. The goal is to eventually increase the pauses to where all you're doing is living in the present. Living fully doesn't mean you have to be unproductive or slow. It means you don't do things in haste or frenzied distraction. You live with intention, awareness, and purpose. 3.
Living In The Moment: 7 Tips for Being More Present
improving your ability to focus. Trusted Source. helping to manage anxiety. In addition, being present can help you: savor enjoyable experiences. pay attention when you're with your loved ones ...
The Great Escape
Join over 70K curious subscribers who receive my best essays and free curated tools for smarter living. Join us and get a free ebook (A collection of essays on life, meaning and happiness) Life
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In my essay, I tackle the idea of living in the now. My goal for my essay was to enlighten people on how important and impactful small moments can be. ... LIVING IN THE PRESENT. by Nile Shareef-Trudeau. I'm alive! This is about recognizing all the blessings that are right in front of me. All the blessings that I pass up because of the toxic ...
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Cherishing each day, living in the present, is my best response to life. As the article comes to an end, I do have some thoughts… So I wrote this poem and share it with you:
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Live in the present moment and enjoy these simple things/. 19. Smile. A lot of people don't smile these days, and often you have to be the one that initiates it. But not only does smiling make you feel good, smiling at someone will make their day too. Smile more and watch how your day can instantly turn around.
(PDF) Living in the Present
Martijn Wallage. 2020, Philosophy. This essay examines two conceptions of the ancient ideal of 'living in the present', one that may be called 'Platonic', suggested by a remark of Ludwig Wittgenstein, and one that may be called 'Stoic', developed by Pierre Hadot. On both conceptions, a life lived and considered in the right way is ...
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The present is an incredibly important time in life as it is when we decide who we are and who we will become. We learn, grow and make choices in the present moment which will shape our future. The present is also a time whereby we can experience our emotions; fear for the future, excitement for the past - or both.
Living in the present moment Free Essay Example
Essay, Pages 6 (1367 words) Views. 414. The meaning of life has puzzled humanity for thousands of years. Religion points back to divine beings as sources of true hope and peace in life while philosophy attempts to use logic and questioning to explain the purpose of man's existence. Even science seeks answers to life's greatest mysteries through ...
Living in the Present
Abstract. This essay examines two conceptions of the ancient ideal of 'living in the present', one that may be called 'Platonic', suggested by a remark of Ludwig Wittgenstein, and one that may be called 'Stoic', developed by Pierre Hadot. On both conceptions, a life lived and considered in the right way is complete in the present ...
Life in the Present
Life in the Present. This essay sample was donated by a student to help the academic community. Papers provided by EduBirdie writers usually outdo students' samples. In the words of the sage Ashtakvarga: "Bondage is created when the mind needs something or it grieves for something, rejects or holds on to something or it is pleased or ...
Essay: Living in the past present and future
We have to take what we can now; be with our friends and family and care for them. The past and the future are guideposts, beacons. They are not more. You can't live in the past, you can't get there. You can't live in the future, you haven't reached it yet. You must live in the present, or you haven't lived at all.
Essay On The Power Of The Present
Essay On The Power Of The Present. 1791 Words4 Pages. THE POWER OF THE MOMENT. The ability to stay in the present is a virtue. Most people are always living either in the past or in the future. So they are either worrying about the past, worrying about the past pains, the past results, the past failures, past relationships, past struggles or ...
Free Essay: Living In The Moment
Happiness is not in the past, sometime in the future, or at the end of any road. It can't be obtained through reasoning or acquired through thought. It can only be felt in this exact moment where we are standing. The distance between us and happiness is 0. . Listen to your emotions and chose to feel happy.
Living In The Present Essays
Living In The Present Causes More Harm Than Good Some people claim that the living in the present can actually cause more harm than good. They say that in order to lead a productive and profitable life, one must study both the past and the future, the present is only a stepping stone. I think that this is quite the opposite.
The Age of AI has begun
The Age of AI has begun. Artificial intelligence is as revolutionary as mobile phones and the Internet. In my lifetime, I've seen two demonstrations of technology that struck me as revolutionary. The first time was in 1980, when I was introduced to a graphical user interface—the forerunner of every modern operating system, including Windows.
"This Living," by Amber Tamblyn
It's going to freeze to death, right there in your arms. It's going to make all the kids. stare out the school-bus window. and sing to you. It's going to rain where he is. It's going to be ...