Wherever you are, be there.........easier said than done...

(This is an edited version of a large painting of two boys watching TV for the first time in their lives.)

"Wherever you are, be there." (Steve Goodier)

This quote, or versions thereof, is probably one of those quotes most of us have come across at sometime or another.

At first glance one may perhaps feel inclined to go: Duh! Obviously!  But, here's the thing, us human beings are able to be physically present while our minds and thoughts are somewhere else.

(Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk reminds us of the importance of being present when we eat and drink: allowing our minds to be focused on what we are tasting and so really tasting(experiencing) everything that we put in to our mouths.

Although perhaps a simple exercise to do when or if we are working on being present in the moment, easy however, it is not, which very quickly became clear to me when I decided to try it.)

Physically we are limited to being in one place at the time, but with our minds we are able to "time-travel". While driving for instance, our minds can be running a list of what we have to buy for dinner, while at work, our minds can be fantasizing about where we will go on our holidays, while running  on a treadmill, our minds can be reminiscing about past events, conversations, experiences, etc.

The mind, may I suggest, is not bound by time, we can all be time-travelers. In the flash of a moment we can weave our way through memories(past), hopes and dreams(future), or focus our mind on for instance, the apple we are eating right now (present). 

This fluidity, being able to flit between the tenses, wondrous as it is, at times can make it difficult for us to "wherever we are, to be there."

When go to bed, often we are thinking about what we have to do tomorrow. While on the way to work, we are thinking about what we will have to do when we get there, when we are at work, we are thinking about what we have to do when we get home.........repeat.....

(For years, while driving to a gig(music job), all I could think about was when I would be driving home again.)

For many of us, once we have decided that we are no longer able to classify ourselves a "young" our minds may be full of thoughts such as: when I was younger I used to be able to walk faster, run faster, stay up all night, drink more, eat more, party more, learn new things quicker, etc.etc.

Remembering, brings us to the past while in the present, thinking about what we will do next brings us into the future while in the present, to be in the present, well, we have to be there, ....body and mind.

And this can be rather difficult.

According to some, we have thousands of thoughts every day, some even suggest 75.000 or so,  which leads me to ponder how in the midst of this onslaught of thoughts we are supposed to be able harness those that belong only to the now?

Since we seem to either to be rehashing the past or planning for the future, how can we become more present in the present, aka "just be there"?

For me, it is a matter of focus and attention.

I ask myself to make a note of where I am, what I can smell, what I can see, what I can hear, (what I can taste) and then I focus all my attention, hone in on, one of those things,,,commonly what I can hear and then filter out everything else.

(According to those in the know, our minds can only focus on one thing at the time, and what we may consider as multitasking is really a matter of doing a number of different things in rapid succession.)

Wherever you are, be there: when you are drinking or eating something, focus all your attention on the taste, when you are listening to something, focus all your attention on what you are hearing(not your thoughts), aka paying an active, open, intentional attention to what is happening right now.

When, or if, thoughts of the past or the future pops up, in my opinion it is often helpful to bring back your attention to something that anchors you to the present moment. 

"Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply." (Thich Nhat Hanh)