October 22, 2018 By: Courtney Ackerman Positive Psychology Program
You’ve heard it said before—probably many times—that it’s important to live 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?