This post is about what the masters say about the present moment.
Walking in nature can easily bring us back to the present moment when we look at the wonders of life in the natural world.
Photo © by Jerome Freedman
Just think for a moment what got you right here, right now – what causes and conditions had to manifest for you to be here?
Meditate on this for a moment, then read what Pema Chodron has to say:
Right Now
The key instruction is to stay in the present. Don’t get caught up in hopes of what you’ll achieve and how good your situation will be some day in the future. What you do right now is what matters.
– Pema Chodron
How often do we get caught up in our plans and hopes for the future when what we do right now is what matters?
Charlotte Joko Beck puts it this way:
Every moment in life is absolute in itself. That’s all there is. There is nothing other than this present moment; there is no past, there is no future; there is nothing but this. So when we don’t pay attention to each little this, we miss the whole thing.
—Charlotte Joko Beck, “Attention Means Attention”
How much are we missing in life because we don’t pay attention in every moment?
I know, in my case, I have missed a lot because I get lost in my thoughts, feelings, and plans for the future without noticing what is going on around me right now.
My teacher, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh says,
By taking good care of the present moment, we take good care of the future. Working for peace in the future is to work for peace in the present moment.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
So what will it take for us to be more alive in the present moment?
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