Appreciate Where You Are Right Now


I often struggle with being in the present. I ponder regrets and unfulfulled dreams from the past, immerse myself in wants for the future. All while the only moments I truly have, pass me by, unappreciated.

How often I wish I had something different than what I have. I know that to truly appreciate where I am is the most profoundly satisfying experience I can have, yet I continue choosing to be out of the present.

I live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world but am oblivious to that truth most of the time. A friend was visiting from the States recently and we went for a bike ride along the waterfront. She couldn't stop marvelling at the beauty just minutes from where I live. She kept saying, "You're so lucky to live here. It's so green and you can smell the ocean all the time." And she's right.

The really odd thing is that when I slow down and I am present, the wonder of life and living is just below the busy-ness and urgency I usually operate within.

When I'm having a conversation with someone, I am often not completely listening to what they say. I'm too busy formulating a response. I seem to have some stake in the response being witty, or clever, or particularly relevant. I want to be considered intelligent and thoughtful. This desire keeps me from being present with people in my life. I need to be more aware of this and make the effort to change my patterns so I can be more in the moment with others.

I've taken some action over the last while that fits with being more present. I've almost stopped reading newspapers. I find the "news" is mostly about the worst of human nature and much of what's in the papers is fear based. Newspapers and TV seem to take me away from the actual world.

For a long time I've not had a television but when I watch TV news in a hotel or at someone's house, it hits me how we're being fed violence, fear, and urgency as entertainment. This tends to speed me up and make me anxious. I prefer not to be so bombarded, and therefore abstain.

Kids know what it's like to live in the wonder of the moment. We can learn so much from children! I can't remember the last time I surrendered to a rose or a tree or the wind-blown ocean. I remember seeing a child at the park, totally engrossed in the area where the outgoing tide was washing the beach. She was running and giggling and urging her Dad to "come Daddy, look." What happens to that joy? To that ability to experience a moment so fully?

Amazing how much I can simply take for granted, how much I have to be truly grateful for. And how much I miss by not being here right now, and right now, and right now. All those moments passing, unseen, unheard. All that muted experience, available with a simple YES!