I have written about this before but it came up in conversation this weekend and seems a good subject to revisit. We are encouraged to plan for the future and learn from our past and of course, this is sound advice – but whilst so many of us are busy planning and revisiting (and reliving) the past – what do we miss in the present? What is the right balance?
The truth is that all we have is NOW and if we don’t ‘stop and smell the roses’ then we can easily miss NOW completely! There is a great art to living in the present and one that we need to practice daily.
My dogs are a good inspiration for me, and every day I walk them I try (like them) to just focus on the moment rather than letting my mind wonder somewhere else. When we do this we appreciate all that is around us and feel much more ‘alive’. There is a lot of truth to living every day as it were your last rather than just wishing time away (because we all know that time goes faster the older you get!).
So try it, next time you are out and about, be more aware of your senses – what you see, what you hear, what you smell – this is a great tip for being present and you will suddenly see your world in so much more detail and be so much more present.