I am learning to be more present. I still seek distractions, but lately it's the distraction of birdsong, the distraction of all the variations of green, the distraction of various cloud forms. I can feel my soul calling me to slow down, as if it's a deep need. Thank you for this piece.
I was having a conversation with a friend who wondered why we always ask children what they want to be when they grow up rather than who they are now. As if somehow the future holds more answers than being present with who we are and getting to know ourselves better. If we can do that, perhaps who we become is just a natural unfolding.
Thank you, Jim. I have been challenging myself to live in the moment for the last two years and it has been a struggle. You message has encouraged me....
I am sitting outside of a small restaurant in the Sierras, facing a trout pond, colored umbrellas folded down because it is raining. And the momentary thought passes “This is my life, right now”
And my heart knows joy and peace.
Thank you, Jim, for the encouragement to participate in this life
When you have been so gifted with a curious, intellectual and analytical mind it can be challenging to find balance with the quiet necessary to simply experience your self.
I just got home from a beautiful walk on the beach with a thought that I want to offer. Many of us are familiar with the concept of emotional regulation as key to healthy functioning but I haven’t seen any discussion of “attentional regulation” anywhere. Your article today hinted to me that perhaps being better able to regulate our attention with awareness is part of the framework of existential health. I don’t think we’re neurologically wired to be present in every moment, I doubt it is even possible. Nor are we wired to never be present. Where is the healthy balance of attention with productivity, memory etc? Does meditation help us with that challenge?
Once again, you have touched a chord inside me. I am 66 years old and gifted with a desire for introspection. However, it's only been recently that I started asking myself why I still am driven by accomplishments. I'm not sure if the answer to the question, but for now I remind myself that I am enough regardless of success or failure and trying to believe it. This moment is enough as well.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful comment. We are deeply shaped by our environments, and it is easy to grow up conditioned to believe that if you aren't producing something, you have no value. It helps to remember that you are not your thoughts, but the awareness hearing them. You have the power to reject the thoughts that do not align with the experience you want for yourself. You are not a human doer, you are a human being. You are everything you want to be now.
Oh my. You have crafted a beautiful, deeply personal piece here, Jim. It feels intimate. You have allowed us a peek inside of your honesty and vulnerability. And thats the point, isn’t it? Your willingness to openly share the life you inhabit invites us to participate in our own.
"The deepest work of being human is not creating a life that matters. It is recognizing, before life becomes memory, that we have been standing inside one all along."
Thank you for this wonderful piece! A couple of thoughts.
I feel that much of this is our (what appears to be peculiar) form of consciousness. Consciousness, our most stubborn mystery, seems to defy our exploration and even our attempts at definition, but for me the best definition has been that it is the ability to comprehend the notion of the day after tomorrow. So, I wonder if some of what you've touched on isn't our wrestling with our gift of a, seemingly, unique level of consciousness.
Second, I wonder if part of the flight from the present isn't - for some and for some times - motivated by fear that they will find that your second sentence quoted above will prove false. I know that for me there have been years of depression where this would absolutely have been the case. But even in my healthy times, I'm burdened with the (post-) modern dilemma of the totally absurd, incomprehensibly vast, absolutely desecrated and terrifyingly silent Cosmos we find ourselves in. In these times, escape into the future (or a nostalgia for the past) is in part a reaction to the awareness of the meaninglessness of existence. "'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher." [Was Solomon a modern?]
But, even if / when existence is absurd and meaningless, a case can be made that life is not. It is in this context where Waymond Wang's admonition becomes a guiding light for me: "The only thing I do know... is that we have to be kind. Please, be kind - especially when we don't know what's going on." Life has meaning, but we often have to fight like Waymond to live into that meaning. So, maybe, being present is the pre-requisite, but being present in love / kindness is the requisite.
An excellent reminder about perspective in life. I like to think I live in the moment, experiencing life as it happens. But I know I too often think about how things will be better when I just get this one more thing accomplished, this one project completed, of this one goal achieved. Those are important, of course, but as you so clearly articulate, we must remember that today only happens now. And tomorrow is never guaranteed.
Thank you. What a good reminder to just experience the feelings that one is having. I’m currently experiencing a deep sadness, grief, and sense of loss. How much I want to get through and get past these feelings, yet I think it’s important to simply feel them fully. They are a part of my life right now, and I simply need to accept them and embrace them. I suspect If someone hasn’t experienced sadness,grief and loss, they probably haven’t experienced love.
This was an exceptional read and it hits close to home because staying present is a massive struggle. A powerful piece of advice I received from my therapist back in 2024 perfectly captures this trap by pointing out that if you have one foot in the past and one foot in the future, you are just pissing on the present moment. That realization completely changed how I view things, exposing how the illusion of time creates this separation that makes us believe we have to constantly become something before we can simply be. It pushes the version of ourselves we want to be into the distant future, turning time into a master people serve as slaves to the clock. I actually dive into this exact dynamic from a neurodivergent perspective in my very first Substack post if anyone wants to check it out. Please let me know what you think🙏🏾
I am learning to be more present. I still seek distractions, but lately it's the distraction of birdsong, the distraction of all the variations of green, the distraction of various cloud forms. I can feel my soul calling me to slow down, as if it's a deep need. Thank you for this piece.
I was having a conversation with a friend who wondered why we always ask children what they want to be when they grow up rather than who they are now. As if somehow the future holds more answers than being present with who we are and getting to know ourselves better. If we can do that, perhaps who we become is just a natural unfolding.
Thank you, Jim. I have been challenging myself to live in the moment for the last two years and it has been a struggle. You message has encouraged me....
I am sitting outside of a small restaurant in the Sierras, facing a trout pond, colored umbrellas folded down because it is raining. And the momentary thought passes “This is my life, right now”
And my heart knows joy and peace.
Thank you, Jim, for the encouragement to participate in this life
When you have been so gifted with a curious, intellectual and analytical mind it can be challenging to find balance with the quiet necessary to simply experience your self.
I just got home from a beautiful walk on the beach with a thought that I want to offer. Many of us are familiar with the concept of emotional regulation as key to healthy functioning but I haven’t seen any discussion of “attentional regulation” anywhere. Your article today hinted to me that perhaps being better able to regulate our attention with awareness is part of the framework of existential health. I don’t think we’re neurologically wired to be present in every moment, I doubt it is even possible. Nor are we wired to never be present. Where is the healthy balance of attention with productivity, memory etc? Does meditation help us with that challenge?
Just a question I’m thinking about. .
Once again, you have touched a chord inside me. I am 66 years old and gifted with a desire for introspection. However, it's only been recently that I started asking myself why I still am driven by accomplishments. I'm not sure if the answer to the question, but for now I remind myself that I am enough regardless of success or failure and trying to believe it. This moment is enough as well.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful comment. We are deeply shaped by our environments, and it is easy to grow up conditioned to believe that if you aren't producing something, you have no value. It helps to remember that you are not your thoughts, but the awareness hearing them. You have the power to reject the thoughts that do not align with the experience you want for yourself. You are not a human doer, you are a human being. You are everything you want to be now.
Oh my. You have crafted a beautiful, deeply personal piece here, Jim. It feels intimate. You have allowed us a peek inside of your honesty and vulnerability. And thats the point, isn’t it? Your willingness to openly share the life you inhabit invites us to participate in our own.
A beautifully written message, Jim.
"The deepest work of being human is not creating a life that matters. It is recognizing, before life becomes memory, that we have been standing inside one all along."
Thank you for this wonderful piece! A couple of thoughts.
I feel that much of this is our (what appears to be peculiar) form of consciousness. Consciousness, our most stubborn mystery, seems to defy our exploration and even our attempts at definition, but for me the best definition has been that it is the ability to comprehend the notion of the day after tomorrow. So, I wonder if some of what you've touched on isn't our wrestling with our gift of a, seemingly, unique level of consciousness.
Second, I wonder if part of the flight from the present isn't - for some and for some times - motivated by fear that they will find that your second sentence quoted above will prove false. I know that for me there have been years of depression where this would absolutely have been the case. But even in my healthy times, I'm burdened with the (post-) modern dilemma of the totally absurd, incomprehensibly vast, absolutely desecrated and terrifyingly silent Cosmos we find ourselves in. In these times, escape into the future (or a nostalgia for the past) is in part a reaction to the awareness of the meaninglessness of existence. "'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher." [Was Solomon a modern?]
But, even if / when existence is absurd and meaningless, a case can be made that life is not. It is in this context where Waymond Wang's admonition becomes a guiding light for me: "The only thing I do know... is that we have to be kind. Please, be kind - especially when we don't know what's going on." Life has meaning, but we often have to fight like Waymond to live into that meaning. So, maybe, being present is the pre-requisite, but being present in love / kindness is the requisite.
An excellent reminder about perspective in life. I like to think I live in the moment, experiencing life as it happens. But I know I too often think about how things will be better when I just get this one more thing accomplished, this one project completed, of this one goal achieved. Those are important, of course, but as you so clearly articulate, we must remember that today only happens now. And tomorrow is never guaranteed.
Thank you. What a good reminder to just experience the feelings that one is having. I’m currently experiencing a deep sadness, grief, and sense of loss. How much I want to get through and get past these feelings, yet I think it’s important to simply feel them fully. They are a part of my life right now, and I simply need to accept them and embrace them. I suspect If someone hasn’t experienced sadness,grief and loss, they probably haven’t experienced love.
This was an exceptional read and it hits close to home because staying present is a massive struggle. A powerful piece of advice I received from my therapist back in 2024 perfectly captures this trap by pointing out that if you have one foot in the past and one foot in the future, you are just pissing on the present moment. That realization completely changed how I view things, exposing how the illusion of time creates this separation that makes us believe we have to constantly become something before we can simply be. It pushes the version of ourselves we want to be into the distant future, turning time into a master people serve as slaves to the clock. I actually dive into this exact dynamic from a neurodivergent perspective in my very first Substack post if anyone wants to check it out. Please let me know what you think🙏🏾