No matter how much you try, plan, plot, arrange, have things to do, leave the house at the same time each day, arrive at the office the same time, pick up the kids on time—you still do not know what will happen next. Each day can so easily seem the same when you follow a routine of going to work, sitting at the same desk, coming home the way you always do. Did you ever feel like it is always Monday morning as the week goes by so fast, or as if you are always brushing your teeth, as the days seem to vanish?

When we were in England, Ed was one day chatting with a Buddhist nun named Avis. Ed said, “Some day we will all die and meet in heaven.” And Avis replied, “Yeah, and we’ll look at each other and say, ‘What was that all about?!'” It made Ed really value the present moment by realizing that only this is real!

Normally, you spend your time living either in what-could-have-been or what-might-have-been or if-only, or in the expectation of what-could-be or what-might-be. Of course, you can learn from the past. As challenging as it may be, the most painful experience often turns out to be your best teacher, and you may feel enormous gratitude that you learned so much. However, memories can also be like comfortable old shoes you are reluctant to part with. You put them on now and then to enjoy the familiarity, but you do not have to wear them every day. Ed trained at the Bihar School of Yoga in India, and one day his teacher looked at him and said, “Man’s memory is like a fool’s paradise!” Constantly living in either the past or the future is like being in a dream, because it limits your capacity to be in the wonder of the present, just being with what is happening right now.

Although everything may appear predictable, the reality is that life can change in an instant. In fact, it changes in every instant, but you just don’t notice it. Spring is coming and the leaves are growing—they are not the same as they were yesterday…nor are you. We lived next to a river and walked beside it each day. But as much as it looked like the same river, even the same water, it was constantly changing as it flowed into the sea. Just as you may look the same, but the cells in your body are constantly being formed, growing and dying—you are constantly changing as you renew yourself in every minute.

You can stay open to these moments of change by simply being aware of them. Right now, just stop and take a deep breath. As you breathe out, just notice how your body feels, the chair you are sitting on, the room you are in. That’s all. 

Contrary to common belief, it can be immensely liberating to have nothing going on but this very moment: To discover that this whole world, this whole universe, is contained in this moment. To realize that nothing more is required of you than to just be fully here, aware and present. What a relief! Finally, you can experience this reality just as it is, without expectation, prejudice or longing, and without the desire for something to be different. Someone once asked Ed if he had ever experienced another dimension. He replied, “Have you experienced this one?”

Simply being still in this moment—without attachment to, or thought of, before or after—invites a deep sense of completion, the feeling there really is nowhere else you need to be or go. It is stepping into sanity and, more importantly, into even greater connectedness. It is impossible to think of somewhere else as being better, because the grass is vividly green exactly where you are. And if you don’t do this now, then when?

Meditating In the Moment

When you meditate by watching the breath entering and leaving, it naturally brings you into being in the present. The breath is just breathing, nothing more. And yet each breath is completely different from the last one. The breath draws you inward, and then you share it with the world as you breathe outward. You can repeat silently, “I am here; I am now; I am present! I am here; I am now; I am present!”

Your experience is just this, vibrant and rich. When you are fully present, the world you live in becomes extraordinary, as if being seen and heard and touched for the first time, for you are without preconceived ideas or desires. There is just the experience. Like a child making the unknown known, you are simply with what is, while also impelled to know it more intimately, to explore and understand…even to become it.

Practice: Breath Awareness Meditation

Sit comfortably with your back straight; hands are in your lap, eyes are closed. Spend a few minutes settling your body, being aware of the room around you and the chair you are sitting on.

Now bring your focus to your breathing: Just watch the natural movement of air as you breathe in and out. Silently repeat, “Breathing in, breathing out.”

Stay with watching your breath. If your mind starts to drift, just see your thoughts as birds in the sky and watch them fly away. Then come back to the breath.

Anytime you get distracted, bored or stressed, just come back to the breath, to this moment now. Silently repeat, “I am here; I am now; I am present! I am here; I am now; I am present!”

You can do this for a few minutes, or as long as you like. When you are ready, take a deep breath and let it go, open your eyes and move gently.