“It is cheap generosity which promises the future in compensation for the present.” — J. A. Spender.

I know that you know this already, but as a reminder: all we have is the present.

Right now.

This is not a dress rehearsal. We do not go live at some point in the future. Today is the day.

There’s an old (and somewhat crass) saying you’re likely to hear in the rooms of recovery: “If you have one foot in the past and the other foot in the future, then you’re pissing on today.”

That tracks for me.

I sit in meditation most mornings and again in the evenings, trying to be mindful of my breath or my bodily sensations. And I’ve been doing this for over a dozen years, and yet I still spend a large chunk of that time thinking about the future. Planning my day or rehearsing a conversation or fantasizing about my first cup of coffee!

It’s OK. I’m not doing it wrong. But if I practice consistently, then I have the chance to come back to my breath, and to come back to the present moment, right here and now.

And why do I do this? So that I can train myself to be more in that present moment for all the other hours of my day.

So when I’m out walking my dog in the woods, I’m aware of my dog and of the woods and not thinking about how I can make a million dollars or rehashing a conversation that happened in high school.

If I’m present, I can actually ENJOY this life right now while I’m living it.

So my unsolicited advice to you today, is to try and wake up to your current moment experience. To get your head out of your phone and notice your family, or the spring flowers, or the temperature, or anything else.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably been hijacked by your mind and it’s time to WAKE UP and enjoy this wonderful live of yours before it slips away while you were planning something for next month!