Living Life in the Present Moment

A very common piece of advice when it comes to living a fulfilling life is the idea that one must “live in the moment.” On the surface it’s a fairly simple statement, but at a closer look, you’ll find it’s not that easy to accomplish. The problem is that humans are both gifted and burdened by the same ability, one that tends to cut both ways.

Last week, one of my two small dachshunds was almost attacked by a bobcat in our backyard. First I heard a frantic bark, followed by a piercing yelp, and I was able to run outside in time to chase the predator away. Luckily, my dog was unharmed. I honestly don’t know how close we came to tragedy. In the moments immediately afterwards, she was shaking so I brought her in the house to comfort her. However, fifteen minutes later, she wanted to go back outside. The attack was over, it was in the past and out of mind. Her adrenaline had subsided and the need for fight-or-flight gone. Life was back to normal. That’s how animals behave. It’s not how we react.

Humans can spend countless hours ruminating about past events, or twisting ourselves into knots worrying about the future. Our ability to take past events and predict a new potential future outcome, is one of our greatest gifts, but it’s also our greatest burden. On the practical side, it has helped us survive and improve the quality of our lives, but it has its drawbacks.

Learning to live in the present

In the book, The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle writes that everything must be viewed through the lens of the present moment. When we consider the past, it’s merely a memory, a memory that’s being recalled in the present. Likewise, future worries are an unrealized thought, a possible outcome being viewed from the present moment. Nothing about that supposed “future” is real until it arrives to become the present. 

The problem with all of this, is that if we spend too much time with our minds thinking about the future or obsessing about the past, we wind up cheating ourselves of the experience of living life in the present. We’ll spend little attention to the beauty that surrounds us right now. We pay little heed to the feeling of a breeze on our skin, the sight of nature’s vibrant colors, or appreciating the people in our lives. Our happiness becomes dependent upon constantly moving forward: getting that promotion, greater pay, a better relationship, or a new home, car, etc. Far too many of us squander the present moment because we’re counting the days, waiting until this or that happens or comes to fruition.

Life is musical

Someone once said that life is inherently musical by nature. Meaning that the purpose of music is not to get to the end of a song or symphony, but for the pure enjoyment of the piece—from first note to very last. We don’t feel rushed. We’re just content to allow the notes to come to us as they come, unfolding in a way that we find pleasing to our ears and our hearts. I sincerely hope that you view life in the same way, stopping to enjoy every note in your life’s song.