When was the last time you said “if only…” or “after (something cool happens) everything will be better…”? Maybe it’s buying a shiny new toy, or going on a trip, moving to a new home, getting married, having kids, or finding a new job. The list of things you are waiting for can go on … and on.

When we do this, we are trying to live in the future. The problem is that there’s always something around the corner to capture your interest and make you believe that life will be better “after”. My life, right now (and in the next four months) is already hectic, busy and exhausting. There’s a part of me that can’t wait until December when I can finally relax, but I know that there will be something around the corner (who knows what) to make me want that month to finally pass so I can take a break from it all.

My solution to the stress? I’m desperately trying to be present right now.

As I write this I’m putting all of my energy into the words, trying to form my thoughts into a palpable blog post that is easy to understand. I’m doing my best to not get distracted by Twitter, Google+ and email (and mostly failing at that attempt). So, I (just now) turned on Think (a really great app that helps you focus on one computer task at a time), closed all of the other tabs in my browser and continued to write this post.

You see, all we have is now. Literally right now. Have you ever been talking to someone and they weren’t paying attention because they were thinking about tomorrow, or the next few hours, or maybe even dwelling on what happend yesterday? Have you ever been that person? (I think we all have.) Have you ever lost (or almost lost) someone you loved dearly and tried to remember the last thing you said to them? If you feel something, and it’s important to you, don’t hold it in. If something crosses your path that could be life-changing, what would happen if you weren’t looking?

As much as we may try, we can’t live in the future. If the next four months fly by for me and I don’t embrace each moment, then the amazing experiences I’m about to go through will have been for naught. My moment is right now, not next month or next year. I don’t want my life to fly by, I want to enjoy it. I want to listen deeply when my friends and I are having a conversation. I want to give my full attention to my nieces and nephews when they’re showing me something that they consider to be extremely cool. I want to focus on my photography, writing and work without getting distracted. I want to live with clarity.

Next year, next month or even next week may never happen. You just never know. Now is all we ever have, so why not consciously live in each tiny moment? They might be painful moments, but we can’t live without pain. Difficult moments make us stronger, and they also make the not-so-difficult moments feel like a cool breeze on a hot day. Living in this moment right now makes me feel very little (or no) stress about the days to come, and more importantly it makes me present and available to those I love.

When was the last time you said “if only…” or “after (something cool happens) everything will be better…”? Maybe it’s buying a shiny new toy, or going on a trip, moving to a new home, getting married, having kids, or finding a new job. The list of things you are waiting for can go on … and on.

When we do this, we are trying to live in the future. The problem is that there’s always something around the corner to capture your interest and make you believe that life will be better “after”. My life, right now (and in the next four months) is already hectic, busy and exhausting. There’s a part of me that can’t wait until December when I can finally relax, but I know that there will be something around the corner (who knows what) to make me want that month to finally pass so I can take a break from it all.

My solution to the stress? I’m desperately trying to be present right now.

As I write this I’m putting all of my energy into the words, trying to form my thoughts into a palpable blog post that is easy to understand. I’m doing my best to not get distracted by Twitter, Google+ and email (and mostly failing at that attempt). So, I (just now) turned on Think (a really great app that helps you focus on one computer task at a time), closed all of the other tabs in my browser and continued to write this post.

You see, all we have is now. Literally right now. Have you ever been talking to someone and they weren’t paying attention because they were thinking about tomorrow, or the next few hours, or maybe even dwelling on what happend yesterday? Have you ever been that person? (I think we all have.) Have you ever lost (or almost lost) someone you loved dearly and tried to remember the last thing you said to them? If you feel something, and it’s important to you, don’t hold it in. If something crosses your path that could be life-changing, what would happen if you weren’t looking?

As much as we may try, we can’t live in the future. If the next four months fly by for me and I don’t embrace each moment, then the amazing experiences I’m about to go through will have been for naught. My moment is right now, not next month or next year. I don’t want my life to fly by, I want to enjoy it. I want to listen deeply when my friends and I are having a conversation. I want to give my full attention to my nieces and nephews when they’re showing me something that they consider to be extremely cool. I want to focus on my photography, writing and work without getting distracted. I want to live with clarity.

Next year, next month or even next week may never happen. You just never know. Now is all we ever have, so why not consciously live in each tiny moment? They might be painful moments, but we can’t live without pain. Difficult moments make us stronger, and they also make the not-so-difficult moments feel like a cool breeze on a hot day. Living in this moment right now makes me feel very little (or no) stress about the days to come, and more importantly it makes me present and available to those I love.

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Nicole is a photographer, published author, and educator specializing in Lightroom, Photoshop, and photography. She is best known for her books on food photography but is widely versed in various photographic genres, including landscape, nature, stock, travel, and experimental imagery.

7 Comments

  1. Marty Cohen August 6, 2011 at 11:49 am - Reply

    Nicole…
    Thank you for the sage advice. Being present is a real practice and takes practice (no matter how old we are). So it’s great to be reminded when we slip back into old patterns. And thanks for the referral to the “Think” app. I hadn’t seen that one and it looks really useful.

    Have a wonderful moment (along with all the others).
    Marty

  2. Ellie August 6, 2011 at 12:46 pm - Reply

    Nicole- thank you for sharing. A good reminder for those of us constantly on the go and “getting through the day” – I am guilty of that more often than I can admit. I’ve just become an aunt to my first nephew – and he’s reminded me how to stop, slow down and value the present moment.

    Ellie :)

  3. Iza August 6, 2011 at 6:52 pm - Reply

    Very smart words, Nicole. I wasn’t so lucky to discover it by myself. But after rough period in my life and being really stressed and out of myself, I went to mindfulness class. This is all they teach and make you practice in various ways- to be present in the moment. It helped a lot. Now I not only notice the smallest details of life, like weather outside, every single day. It also lets me gain distance to whatever life throws at me. So, lets live in this moment, everyone!

  4. Jeff Dolan August 6, 2011 at 7:53 pm - Reply

    Great thoughts Nicole. Thanks for sharing.

  5. Karen Bonsell August 7, 2011 at 10:04 am - Reply

    Thanks for your profound words & sharing your personal thoughts! This is something I’ve been pondering for the last few years! My Dad always said, “Don’t rush getting older, because time goes by so fast.” Now that I’m in my 40’s, & my kids are grown, I am finally much more aware of this. Unfortunately, it’s much easier said than done! But, thanks for the reminder!

  6. Claudia August 7, 2011 at 3:29 pm - Reply

    Such wisdom for one so young. I’ve known two people who were living for retirement, looking forward to what they were going to do, putting off until tomorrow what they wanted to do today. Sadly neither made it to retirement, they both, literally, dropped dead. So don’t put anything off to the future, including telling your family and friends how very much they mean to you.

  7. Dave Stevenson August 7, 2011 at 10:31 pm - Reply

    Your post reminded me of a favorite saying: “It’s not the destination that’s most important — it’s the journey.” What we do and how we do it as we pursue our future goals is often much more important than reaching those goals. Too often, people miss the beauty of a “now” moment because they’re too focused on getting to the “later” moment. You’ve laid out a beautiful philosophy of life in your post, and I’m convinced there are many wonderful moments that you WILL experience because of it.

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