Now Is...

Excerpted from the ebook, A Perfect Present:

Where does the time go? There’s no shortage of demands on our attention. Busy lives, family needs, demanding jobs, social activities, and personal interests fill our waking moments. It’s easy to get caught up in “the daily grind” and then fall into habits of living that conceal a harsh reality: our life is passing by.

“Life is what happens to you while your busy making other plans”

— attributed to John Lennon, but this quote has other attributions from long before Lennon's song, Beautiful Boy

It’s inspiring to feel a desire to carve out a niche, to make a name for yourself, or to build your own empire. But don’t let the focus on the future or the demands of the daily grind steal your life. The sobering epiphany that you’re missing out on the moments of your life is all too common and many people come to this realization, with a twinge of regret, in middle age or later life. These twinges serve as reminders to make the most of the moments of your life, to come back to the present and to be here, now; at least some of the time.

Eckharte Tolle’s “The Power of Now” extols the benefits of living in the present. Perhaps 99% of stress in life has nothing to do with the immediate moment. We agonize over past transgressions or injustices and worry about future potential catastrophes. It’s no wonder so many people long to get away from it all and fantasize about a life free of obligation. They’re really trying to escape from the stress inside, which, unfortunately, often travels with them.

The present moment is beautiful in its simplicity and challenging in its opportunity. The beauty of the present moment is that it requires very little of you. You typically don’t have to do anything, other than breathe, at any given moment in life. For most moments in life, you don’t have to pay any bill, answer any call, or perform any duty at that instant.

The challenge of the present moment is that it asks everything of you. You get the most out of the present when you give your all to it. You get rewarded with the fullness of life when you turn all of your attention, all of your interest, all of your spirit over to the present.

The most common practices for being present come from spiritual disciplines, especially those from the east, including, meditation, yoga, and now the emergence of "mindfulness" in the west.

Living in the present is not an achievement, it is a practice. A Perfect Present is an ebook I've compiled of 21 tips to help be present in your own life. Please enjoy it free, in both .pdf and pub formats, for a limited time, as my gift to you: