Reading a post condemning the idea of being attuned to the present moment I was reminded of how often some ideas find themselves rejected or disqualified.

The idea that there is power in the present moment is one of them.

It’s one of those ideas that belongs in a category of simple ideas that require practice to be implemented and become accessible.

The power of the present moment is an idea that can only be experienced as a whole. It can’t be dissected. And yet, to become acquainted with the present moment, it will help to discover the challenges occurring when trying to dissect it. It becomes simple once one starts to find access to it as a “whole.”

The power of the present moment is an invitation to reside in the present moment instead of trying to be in the past or the future.

However, that doesn’t mean at all forgetting about the past or the future. It’s more a question of how we address them.

Take for example the hope that tomorrow comes faster. That’s neither being in the present nor in the future. It’s rejecting where one is. Consider the nostalgia of past moments, wishing these times to come back. That too isn’t being in the present, and it isn’t being in the past either. It’s trying to transform the present moment into something it can’t be.

Visualizing an action like driving on a Formula One course is very different. It means to imagine in detail how one has to react to the course and do so as if one would be driving the course itself. It’s a visualization that is very much being in the present moment. Similarly, sharing memories from the past with a good friend can very much be a way to be in the present moment too.

Neither of both are asking the present moment to be different than it is. This simple distinction is subtle. It’s difficult to notice it within one’s experience. The mind often finds itself sucked in and thus distracted. It makes it hard to notice that one left the present moment.

That’s not a problem.

The lack of practice is.