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Abstract

">Living in the now is not about doing nothing, taking drugs, or having orgies all the time. That’s actually a nightmare.</p><p id="3a3d">Hell is bathing in your own juice.</p><p id="853b">Xmas is a good example, for a few days you indulge like there is no tomorrow and then you end up fee up with all that food, drinks, and merriness. All you want is to go back home, go on a diet, and return to work. Being forced to have fun all the time it’s actually a nightmare.</p><p id="a618">Trying to find happiness in a bottle is like trying to find love in a brothel. It ain’t gonna happen.</p><h2 id="cb9a">Irresponsibility</h2><p id="e117">Being in the now does not mean failing to prepare for the future. In fact, planning effectively requires focus and implies being fully present.</p><p id="510b">When you are thinking about the future you are not really planning, you are just imagining unlikely scenarios and getting all worked up over nothing.</p><h2 id="0656">Ignoring the past</h2><p id="c756">The past is what made you who you are and it’s there as a reminder of the good moments and as a learning experience. What is not so good, it’s constantly looking back with nostalgia, regret, and bitterness.</p><h1 id="aa8c">What is it like to live in the present?</h1><p id="e593">Living in the now implies focusing and enjoying what you are doing right now, whatever that is, disregarding how long or how much effort it will take.</p><h2 id="25d7">Focus</h2><p id="3cdd">Whatever you are doing, stay on it for the duration of the task, give it your 100%. Don’t think about time, don’t get distracted, just focus on it as if there is no tomorrow. Avoid multitasking like the plague.</p><h2 id="993d">Fun</h2><p id="cd9a">You have to decide how do you want to live your life and what is your mission. Then, align your values with your work. A musician enjoys the drudgery of practicing difficult scales for hours every day. A writer writes for the sake of it, even if no one is going to read it. An athlete spends hours on the track doing repetitive routines.</p><p id="51e6">When you love your craft, getting your hands dirty and enduring hardships are actually a blessing. That is what fun means.</p><h2 id="fecd">Reframe</h2><p id="afc7">You can find beauty in almost anything. For example, ironing might not be your thing but, if you focus on the process you can derive some pleasure from it.</p><p id="d55f">Feel the material, the hot steam released, the smell of the fabric, and the satisfaction of a job well done.</p><p id="7a0e">Almost anything can be enjoyable if we look at it with fresh eyes and the right attitude.</p><h2 id="ffdb">Enjoy the challenge</h2><p id="86be">Let’s say you want to learn to code. That means a lot of tasks that are difficult and frustrating. But that’s the beauty of it. If it was easy it’d be boring. Life is not meant to be a walk in the park, you can l

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ive in the moment and enjoy the challenge like a surfer enjoys a big wave. An easy life is not worth living. Depression and suicide are often associated with the lack of meaning that comes with an easy life.</p><p id="002e">How many people die when they retire or become wealthy because of the lack of struggle? Be careful what you wish for.</p><h1 id="e3a3">How to be more present</h1><h2 id="f947">Meditation</h2><p id="4a2d">Mindfulness is the most effective tool to tame your mind and bring you to the present. Focus on what is, do not judge, evaluate, or speculate. You are a rock, your thoughts are a cloud, don’t let the cloud disturb the rock.</p><p id="d37b">Practice meditation daily, ideally first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Carry that feeling to your daily tasks — feel the hot water in your skin, the flavors in your mouth, and the scent of roses from the garden.</p><p id="ed05">The point is to feel more and to think less. Most of your thinking is rubbish anyway, the relentless monkey mind trying to ruin the moment.</p><p id="4b1c">Thinking is fine when you choose to do so, but the constant chattering inside your head is a course of unhappiness and must be stopped.</p><h2 id="658c">Psychological time</h2><p id="0fb2">There are two types of time, chronological time and psychological time. The first is necessary to function in the real world, the second is just an illusion created by the mind.</p><p id="5a2e">When you consider pursuing a goal but get overwhelmed by the time involved, that is psychological time.</p><p id="28bd">To learn a language you need 800 hours. This seems too long and that’s why most people don’t even try but this is a fallacy. All you need to do is to take one step at a time and enjoy the process.</p><p id="882e">When you focus on the present, time flies, and 800 hours feels like nothing. Every year I spend 500 hours cycling and it goes like a breeze. Do I get overwhelmed by it? Not at all, I don’t even realize until I look at the year log. Time is just an illusion, don’t let it stop you.</p><p id="9850" type="7">Time is always long when you look forward but short when you look back</p><p id="54ca">We are not well equipped to judge time, that’s why it’s better to live in the now.</p><p id="7111">This is actually a very useful concept. When you want to follow your mission, ignore the timeframe, just do it one step at a time, enjoy the task at hand, and keep growing. The destination is the way.</p><p id="b29d">When I started writing this article I didn’t think about the 2–3 hours it’ll take to finish it. I just focus on writing, one word at a time, trying my best. At the beginning I was in the now, now I’m still here.</p><p id="8b13">The time it took is irrelevant, past and future are just an illusion. Focus on the present because that’s all you ever have. There is no time like now.</p></article></body>

Now is All You’ve Got

It is what it is

Now is all there is. The past is just a distant memory and the future is always about to happen. I know you’ve heard this before but it’s important to fully realize this concept.

We are constantly living in the past and worrying about the future even though we are trapped in the present.

As Eckhart Tolle questions in The Power of Now, ‘Have you ever experienced, done, thought, or felt anything outside the now?’

Obviously not and yet we waste our lives worrying about something that might never happen and having regrets about what’s already past.

Happiness is always around the corner

When I finish my studies I’ll be happy. Then…

When I find a job I’ll finally be happy. Then…

When I get married I’ll finally be happy. Then…

When I have children…

When they grow up…

When I retire…

You get the gist.

Does this ring a bell? This is how most of us live our lives — wishing our time away.

Happiness is never around the corner, happiness is here, now. If you are not content with what you got, you’ll never be happy. Stop kidding yourself.

This is an important principle to learn, most of us understand the concept but find it difficult to live by it. Modern life has shifted the focus to the future. Western values propose to live a miserable life in order to enjoy the afterlife. Really? Is that the goal? And, what if there isn’t any afterlife?

Even if you are not religious, you’ve probably accepted without much questioning what it means to live in the future — sacrifice now, delay gratification, do your duty even if you hate it — and later there might or might not be a reward.

These are some of the consequences of living in the future.

You work for 40 years at a job you hate just to get a nice retirement package
You major in a subject you dislike just to get a job you’ll hate
You stay married just because it’s easier than splitting up

What living in the now is not

These are some of the mistakes people do when they think they are living in the now but they are not.

Hedonism

Living in the now is not about doing nothing, taking drugs, or having orgies all the time. That’s actually a nightmare.

Hell is bathing in your own juice.

Xmas is a good example, for a few days you indulge like there is no tomorrow and then you end up fee up with all that food, drinks, and merriness. All you want is to go back home, go on a diet, and return to work. Being forced to have fun all the time it’s actually a nightmare.

Trying to find happiness in a bottle is like trying to find love in a brothel. It ain’t gonna happen.

Irresponsibility

Being in the now does not mean failing to prepare for the future. In fact, planning effectively requires focus and implies being fully present.

When you are thinking about the future you are not really planning, you are just imagining unlikely scenarios and getting all worked up over nothing.

Ignoring the past

The past is what made you who you are and it’s there as a reminder of the good moments and as a learning experience. What is not so good, it’s constantly looking back with nostalgia, regret, and bitterness.

What is it like to live in the present?

Living in the now implies focusing and enjoying what you are doing right now, whatever that is, disregarding how long or how much effort it will take.

Focus

Whatever you are doing, stay on it for the duration of the task, give it your 100%. Don’t think about time, don’t get distracted, just focus on it as if there is no tomorrow. Avoid multitasking like the plague.

Fun

You have to decide how do you want to live your life and what is your mission. Then, align your values with your work. A musician enjoys the drudgery of practicing difficult scales for hours every day. A writer writes for the sake of it, even if no one is going to read it. An athlete spends hours on the track doing repetitive routines.

When you love your craft, getting your hands dirty and enduring hardships are actually a blessing. That is what fun means.

Reframe

You can find beauty in almost anything. For example, ironing might not be your thing but, if you focus on the process you can derive some pleasure from it.

Feel the material, the hot steam released, the smell of the fabric, and the satisfaction of a job well done.

Almost anything can be enjoyable if we look at it with fresh eyes and the right attitude.

Enjoy the challenge

Let’s say you want to learn to code. That means a lot of tasks that are difficult and frustrating. But that’s the beauty of it. If it was easy it’d be boring. Life is not meant to be a walk in the park, you can live in the moment and enjoy the challenge like a surfer enjoys a big wave. An easy life is not worth living. Depression and suicide are often associated with the lack of meaning that comes with an easy life.

How many people die when they retire or become wealthy because of the lack of struggle? Be careful what you wish for.

How to be more present

Meditation

Mindfulness is the most effective tool to tame your mind and bring you to the present. Focus on what is, do not judge, evaluate, or speculate. You are a rock, your thoughts are a cloud, don’t let the cloud disturb the rock.

Practice meditation daily, ideally first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Carry that feeling to your daily tasks — feel the hot water in your skin, the flavors in your mouth, and the scent of roses from the garden.

The point is to feel more and to think less. Most of your thinking is rubbish anyway, the relentless monkey mind trying to ruin the moment.

Thinking is fine when you choose to do so, but the constant chattering inside your head is a course of unhappiness and must be stopped.

Psychological time

There are two types of time, chronological time and psychological time. The first is necessary to function in the real world, the second is just an illusion created by the mind.

When you consider pursuing a goal but get overwhelmed by the time involved, that is psychological time.

To learn a language you need 800 hours. This seems too long and that’s why most people don’t even try but this is a fallacy. All you need to do is to take one step at a time and enjoy the process.

When you focus on the present, time flies, and 800 hours feels like nothing. Every year I spend 500 hours cycling and it goes like a breeze. Do I get overwhelmed by it? Not at all, I don’t even realize until I look at the year log. Time is just an illusion, don’t let it stop you.

Time is always long when you look forward but short when you look back

We are not well equipped to judge time, that’s why it’s better to live in the now.

This is actually a very useful concept. When you want to follow your mission, ignore the timeframe, just do it one step at a time, enjoy the task at hand, and keep growing. The destination is the way.

When I started writing this article I didn’t think about the 2–3 hours it’ll take to finish it. I just focus on writing, one word at a time, trying my best. At the beginning I was in the now, now I’m still here.

The time it took is irrelevant, past and future are just an illusion. Focus on the present because that’s all you ever have. There is no time like now.