Living in the Now

The human mind is one of the most powerful tools in the world. Our unique ability to learn and reflect upon the past and plan and prepare for the future has helped our species dominate the planet.¹ Unfortunately, in such a fast-paced world, we spend so much time planning and reflecting that we often lose touch with the present moment. Add today’s modern attention-seeking technologies to that, and we find ourselves in a world where living in the now is scarce.

A study by Harvard Psychologist Daniel Gilbert found that about 47% of our waking hours are spent thinking about something other than what we are doing.² You may ask why this is bad; isn’t reflection and preparation an incredible tool? It is, but most of the time, we aren’t using our minds productively.

Instead of using our minds for good, we spend time thinking about what other people think of us, mistakes we have made, deadlines we have to meet, and the pain of waking up on a Monday. Following Gilbert’s study, he stated, “A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost.”

Today, it isn’t just our minds pulling us out of the present moment. After TVs and mobile phones were invented, attention became one of the most valuable commodities in the world. Corporations invest large sums of time and money to master the art of stealing our attention, and they do an outstanding job. When you combine these attention-grabbing technologies with our mind’s natural tendency to wander, being removed from the moment has never been easier. 

When was the last time you deeply observed the sounds around you? How often do you eat a meal without a source of entertainment? How much time do you spend genuinely listening when talking with someone you care about? When you fall asleep at night, is it a time of peace or a time for your mind to race about tomorrow’s obligations? We may not realize it, but most of us are deeply out of touch with the moment.

I feel this should go without saying, but we should want to be in touch with the moment; it welcomes peace and calm into our lives. There is a reason we find such immense joy in a beautiful sunset or a moving song: they silence our minds and completely immerse us in the now.

While it may not be easy, we can make an effort to bring ourselves into the now. Go for a walk, power your phone off at dinner, meditate for a few minutes, or just make a daily effort to clear your mind. Acts like these compound upon each other and allow us to appreciate the value of being present. A more peaceful life is within reach, but it takes action, and the best time to start is now.

 Literacy Rates

1  This idea, primarily our unique ability to imagine things, I drew from Yuval Noah Harari’s book Sapiens.

2  The study can be found here.