Here and Now

Sometimes when we are meditating—or of more significance perhaps—when we are not, our minds wander to possible future activities: What will I make for dinner? Does the car have enough gas to get me where I am going? What will she say when I tell her that I love her? Or, we conjure up events from our past: Why did I do that? I miss my last job. That walk with you was so tiring! What if he hadn’t gotten sick?

Why can’t we be just here, just now? It seems like we’re so often thinking either of the past or the future, and what we can only really act in is the present moment. This conundrum won’t come as news to many of you, yet still we struggle to stay grounded in the here and now. I think many of may feel like we’re sufficiently attuned to the present moment that we have ‘spare’ attentional capacity to devote to planning for the future or wallowing in the past, but the truth is that we don’t have spare capacity. To test this for yourself, close your eyes and direct your attention to your body. Are you standing? Sitting? Lying down? Is your breathing fast or slow? Can you become aware of your weight, your heaviness on this earth? Before you closed your eyes, how aware were you of any of those things? Now consider an encounter with another person: how much will you miss if you are thinking about what’s for dinner when you are with them?

My point is not that we shouldn’t plan or that we shouldn’t sometimes review what has already happened. My point is simply that when we pay attention to the moment, we can direct all of our compassionate, loving energy to this one precious moment and thereby bring our best self to now.