“Took me exactly 53 trips around the sun to realize that right now I’m as young as I’ll ever be, and as old as I’ve ever been, here in the honeyhole between already and not yet.”

Matthew McConaughey

When’s the last time you stopped in your tracks, completely absorbed with what was going on in front of you, or even inside of you – not caring about anything else. In other words, needing absolutely nothing, wanting absolutely nothing. Regretting nothing, anxious about nothing. Feeling deeply that everything was fine already.

If you’ve never felt this, or feel it very rarely, why?

Consider a few doorways below, followed by many quotes from many humans, describing what it’s like to experience life this way.

“Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present, which seldom happens to us.”

Jean de La Bruyère

“Today is our most precious possession. It is our only sure possession.”

Dale Carnegie

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon—instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today. Why are we such fools—such tragic fools?”

Dale Carnegie

“Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally.”

Eckhart Tolle

“To allow ourselves to be truly in touch with where we already are, no matter where that is, we have got to pause in our experience long enough to let the present moment sink in; long enough to actually feel the present moment, to see it in its fullness, to hold it in awareness and thereby come to know and understand it better.”

Jon Kabat-Zinn

“Something wonderful begins to happen with the simple realization that life, like an automobile, is driven from the inside out, not the other way around. As you focus more on becoming more peaceful with where you are, rather than focusing on where you would rather be, you begin to find peace right now, in the present. Then, as you move around, try new things, and meet new people, you carry that sense of inner peace with you. It’s absolutely true that, ‘Wherever you go, there you are.’”

Richard Carlson

“The moments that I’ve allowed – or forced – myself to stop, to rest, to breathe, to connect. Thats where life is, I’m finding. Thats where grace is. Thats where delight is.”

Shauna Niequist

“You have to let yourself be fully present in every moment.”

Jenny Han

” Be present in all things and thankful for all things.”

Maya Angelou

“…Often the hardest person to fight for is… yourself. But you must. Your heart is needed. You must be present and engaged in order to love well and fight on behalf of others. Without you, much will be lost.”

John Eldredge

“Happiness is not dependent on circumstances being exactly as we want them to be, or on ourselves being exactly as we’d like to be. Rather, happiness stems from loving ourselves and our lives exactly as they are, knowing that joy and pain, strength and weakness, glory and failure are all essential to the full human experience.”

Kristin Neff

“Time is basically an illusion created by the mind to aid in our sense of temporal presence in the vast ocean of space. Without the neurons to create a virtual perception of the past and the future based on all our experiences, there is no actual existence of the past and the future. All that there is, is the present.”

Abhijit Naskar

“Western civilization places so much emphasis on the idea of hope that we sacrifice the present moment. Hope is for the future. It cannot help us discover joy, peace, or enlightenment in the present moment.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

“The only true thing is what’s in front of you right now.”

Ramona Ausubel

“If you want to conquer overthinking, bring your mind to the present moment and reconnect it with the immediate world.”

Amit Ray

“Our appointment with life is in the present moment. If we do not have peace and joy right now when will we have peace and joy–tomorrow, or after tomorrow? What is presenting us from being happy right now?”

Thich Nhat Hanh

“Everything we do can be a meditative practice if we use it as an opportunity to practice being present in the moment. Walking can be a meditation. Eating can be a meditation. Each is a profound experience that can become even more profound when we’re fully present, when we feel every step, and taste every flavor.”

Todd Perelmuter

“When we are just in the moment, there are no doubts, there are no worries, and there’s no room for anxiety.”

Todd Perelmuter

“If you start keeping track of your thoughts and write them down, you’ll find that most of the time, you are either thinking ahead or looking back.”

Joe Dispenza

“A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell on the future.”

Albert Einstein

“Never let the fondness of past memories rob you of the richness of present experiences.”

Steve Hallblade

“The most effective way to combat stress and anxiety is to return home to this moment; to tune in to what you can control. Being present develops your spiritual muscles. When we are aligned with the present, we are grateful, we are at peace, we find acceptance with ourselves exactly how we are.”

Hania Khuri-Trapper

“How often do we miss the simple and sublime because we are too stressed looking back or too absorbed looking forward?”

Merida Johns

“Look now. It will never be more fascinating.”

James Schuyler

“Focus on what is going well. Focus on what is present. By focusing on what is going well, you will create a channel for more to flow toward you. When you focus on what’s missing or what you are doing “wrong,” you will reinforce lack, or scarcity.”

Molly M. Cantrell-Kraig

“No past – no demons.”

Bert McCoy

“The partner of past is future. The now has no opposite. In the now, future and past are one.”

Georgi Y. Johnson

“Wake up from the dream of thought into the aliveness of this moment.”

Robert Celner

“Neither we can be in past or future, only place we can be is this moment. This is the moment to celebrate, rejoice and to live gracefully.”

Tonmoy Acharjee

“On your darkest days do not try to see the end of the tunnel by looking far ahead. Focus only on where you are right now. Then carefully take one step at a time.”

Anthon St. Maarten

How?

Many ways.

Road 1, Road 2, Road 3, Road 4

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