In the beginning of the book “Peace is Every Step, The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life” by Thich Nhat Hanh, we read,
“We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive.”
Reading those words rang true with me. I too often allow my thoughts to race towards the future or dwell too long in the past and miss what is happening right before me.
Planning is good and preparing for the future is necessary but as Thich Nhat Hanh says, “…even planning can only take place in the present moment.”
And not being fully present robs us of what can be experienced only in that moment of living.
I wonder if that’s been part of my problem when I have struggled with being happy. “What might happen” or “what did happen” so fully occupied my thoughts to the exclusion of “what is happening now”?
I am saddened to notice all the times my thoughts have existed elsewhere, when life was happening all around me.
- missing a beautiful sunset because I’m rushing somewhere.
- failing to lift another because I am too preoccupied with worry to notice their feelings.
- overlooking the joy of being with loved ones because I’m stressed about some future event.
Life is lived only in the present moment, not in the past or the future.
My question for you to consider is this.
Are we getting good at preparing to live, or are we getting good at living?
I encourage you to set aside your fears, worries and regrets and live more fully in the present.
With love,
