Living in the present moment

“Live life in the present moment” is one of those annoying mantras that I’ve heard so many times throughout my life.

It seemed to me that whenever someone said it, they were stating the obvious... I mean, isn’t the present moment the only way possible to live? It’s not like we can travel back in time or travel into the future. We only ever have the present moment so I’m not sure why this was a “wise” saying.

I guess that’s why I found it annoying.

But that’s because I had no idea what it meant. I only learned the meaning of this a few years ago, after reading Eckhart Tolle’s book, The Power of Now. My sister gave it to me during the pandemic. She enjoyed reading it and thought I would enjoy it too. She was right. Not only did I enjoy the book, it completely changed my perspective on life.

The beauty of the book is in the simplicity of its message. Living in the present moment means being free of any thoughts that are not directly tied to what you are doing in the present moment.

It’s similar to meditation – when you let go of all thought, you become an energy field that can connect with the love energy of the quantum field. Likewise, when you limit your thoughts only to what you are doing in the present moment, you make more space for your energy field which allows you to maintain a connection to the quantum field as you go about your day.

In theory, it all makes sense. But in reality, letting go of thought is not an easy thing to do. We spend most of our life thinking – either about things that have already happened or about things that might happen in the future.  

Trying to convince your mind to stop thinking only makes it think more.

So instead of telling yourself to stop thinking, fully immerse yourself in what you are doing in a given moment.

For example, if you are chopping carrots, focus only on that. Use your thinking to guide you as you hold the carrot in place and apply the knife to it, at the right angle and with the right pressure. This may seem like a menial task – something you can do on autopilot – but that’s not true. When your thoughts are scattered, that’s when accidents are more likely – the knife slips off the carrot and you cut your finger.

It's a simple analogy that can be applied to everything we do in life.

Living in the present moment is just that – focus your thoughts only on what you are doing in a given moment.

After I read the book, I tested out the theory and I found that I felt more peaceful. When I was in the kitchen cooking, I focused all of my thoughts on whatever task I was doing in a given moment:

Taking a pan out of the drawer. Placing the pan on the stove. Drizzling a little oil into the pan. Turning the stove on. Adding broccoli to the pan. Listening to the sizzle of the broccoli hitting the hot oil. Opening the cabinet. Taking out a bottle of salt. Sprinkling salt onto the broccoli.

Not only did I feel more peaceful by letting go of my annoying stream of thoughts (like thinking about a work deadline or an upsetting thing that someone said to me), I actually enjoyed the process of cooking more than I ever did. There was a beauty to cooking that I hadn’t noticed before. Something as boring as cooking broccoli became therapeutic.

When you focus all of your thoughts on what you are doing in a given moment, your life flows easier and you feel more at peace.

I’ve now become one of those annoying people who tells other people to live life in the present moment.

Give it a shot and see how you feel.