Inhabiting the Moment

As a psychotherapist who believes much of our healing comes from understanding and forgiving the past, and as someone who loves to revisit wonderful experiences in order to revel in the feelings they elicited the first time around, I’ve struggled with the concept of continually living in the moment. What does living in the moment really mean? Where does planning for the future, scheduling appointments in advance, and making reservations for a future trip fit into the idea of living in the moment? How can living moment to moment complement my forays into the past and my need to stay sane by preparing for things to come?

Once when I was talking to my chosen daughter, Colleen, about not having come to a satisfactory conclusion about living in the moment, she said, “I’vebeen thinking about that too, and I’ve decided that what I am consciously doing in the moment is the moment.” Aha! The proverbial light bulb went on, and then living in the moment became a believable and doable objective. For me, consciously is the significant word here. As I understand it, when we consciously do, think, or experience something, our attention is fully engaged and we are connected with the reality and texture of what is going on. Therefore, if we are consciously paying attention and aware of planning for the future or thinking of the past right here, right now, we are still inhabiting the moment.

Excerpted from The Woman's Book of Mindfulness by Sue Patton Thoele. Available on Amazon.