It’s a strange thing, the present. We consider three time zones, don’t we? The past, the present and the future. A lot of patients I see are suffering because they are trapped in one of these time zones (and it’s not the present!). We experience the past through our use of memory. The past doesn’t exist. Not any more. We can only bring it back to life by remembering. Remembering is something we do. The future doesn’t exist. Not yet. We can only bring it to life by imagining. Imagining is something we do. So if we do remembering to experience the past, and imagining to experience the future, then what do we do to experience the present?
Usually when I think about experiencing the present, I concentrate on my senses, and becoming aware of what I’m hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling or touching. Amy, at livelessordinary, has written beautifully about just that way of living in the present.
I was reading “Donner un sens a l’existence“, by Jean-Philippe Ravoux, recently. Jean-Philippe is a French philosopher who has written about the philosophical basis of “Le Petit Prince”. He makes a strong point about the present which, when I read it, made me suddenly stop and think. Some of the greatest truths are the simplest ones. He says that living in the present is about acting. He says that we can ONLY act in the present. The present is the ONLY time we can DO anything. When I read that point, it was as if a penny dropped. Until then I had considered living in the present as a fairly passive affair – a time of sitting still, being quiet, savouring, sensing consciously and mindfully. Well, I still think all that is true, but look at all the verbs in that sentence! The present isn’t something that just happens to us, or passes us by. It’s what we do.
The way to live in the present is to be conscious of what you are choosing to do.
What are you doing right now? Reading? Thinking? Drinking tea or coffee? Remembering? Imagining? All these actions are your actions. These actions, these choices, are how you create your experience of living. William Glasser understood that when he developed Reality Therapy. Living in the present – it’s what we do!
Heroes Not Zombies 
I think one has to be careful not to push aside too easily either reflection on the past or imagination of the future. Both can effect what we choose to do in the present moment.
The present is also the only place we can make changes.
Oh Richard, absolutely – where would we be without reflection and imagination?! They are crucial qualities or characteristics of human consciousness. The interesting thing about them though is that they are ACTIONS – we DO remembering and we DO imagining. Becoming conscious of that allows us to start making choices. Without awareness these qualities of the mind can create their own loops trapping people in grief or fear.
As you say, spaceagesage, the present is the ONLY place we an make changes
Yes, I agree that reflection and imagination are crucial characteristics.
I also thought that living in the present was sort of a passive affair till now 🙂 … something that was achieved only through meditation. I guess I didn’t understand the way “living in the moment” was presented to me in the past. From what I read on the subject I thought any time spent thinking of the past or the future was time spent unwisely and that didn’t make sense to me. Maybe the time ill-spent was time spent regretting the past or worrying about the future… what you refer to as “loops trapping people in grief and fear.”
In any case, thanks for these wonderful posts. I’m enjoying them immensely. 🙂
[…] year I’ve been reading some contemporary French philosophers, Jean-Philippe Ravoux, Pierre Hadot, and Bertrand Vergely. I’ve not read much, but both in interviews they’ve […]
[…] year I’ve been reading some contemporary French philosophers, Jean-Philippe Ravoux, Pierre Hadot, and Bertrand Vergely. I’ve not read much, but both in interviews they’ve […]