Living Fully in the Now
As the calendar turns to a new year in just a few days, many of us feel
the pull to look ahead — to set goals, dream big, and imagine the future
we want to create. Yet, as Buddhist wisdom often reminds us, the
present moment is the foundation for everything that follows. The new
year offers not just an opportunity to plan for what’s next, but also to
recommit to living fully right now, seeing each moment as brand new.
The three pieces in this Weekend Reader explore this delicate balance:
the call of the future and the grounding power of the present moment.
Can we embrace each moment as it comes while still moving toward our
aspirations? How can mindfulness transform our daily lives, starting
here and now? They each offer inspiration and practical wisdom for
starting the new year rooted in presence.
In “ Becoming Truly Alive,” Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us how every moment offers the opportunity to awaken. In “ The Power of Presence,” Brother Phap Linh explores the depth and beauty waiting for us in the now. Finally, in “ A More Present Life Starts Now,” Emily Horn shares three simple practices to begin living with greater awareness in your day-to-day life.
May this year bring you clarity, compassion, and many moments of presence.
—Lilly Greenblatt, digital editor, Lion’s Roar
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We live a kind of artificial life, says Thich Nhat Hanh, lost in worries
and anger. Our practice is to wake up and live each moment fully.
The teaching of the Buddha tells you clearly and plainly to make this
the most magnificent and wonderful moment of your life. This present
moment must become the most wonderful moment in your life. All you need
to transform this present moment into a wonderful one is freedom. All
you need to do is free yourself from your worries and preoccupations
about the past, the future, and so on.
The deep insight of impermanence is what helps us do this. It is very
useful to keep our concentration on impermanence alive. You think the
other person in your life is going to be there forever, but that is not
true. That person is impermanent, just like you. So if you can do
something to make that person happy, you should do it right away.
Anything you can do or say to make them happy — say it or do it now.
It’s now or never.
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Scientific materialism prevents you from knowing you’re inseparable from
the cosmos. A teaching by Brother Phap Linh on what we can discover in
the present moment.
I went to lie down in my tent under the eaves of the forest. My thinking
had completely stopped. A nightingale started to sing a few meters
away. I’d released so much anxiety, tension, striving, judging, and
reacting that I was there in a way I’d never been before.
I was fully present.
The sound of the nightingale came in, without any filter. There was just
a glorious, joyous outpouring of sound—like a string of pearls, each
perfect, each flowing liquidly into the next, with no interruption of
thinking, comparing, or grasping. There was no distinction between me
and the sound, me and the nightingale, or me and the cosmos. It was like
drinking from the purest source of life and beauty.
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Life
and practice don’t need to be separate, writes Emily Horn. She shares
how we can integrate moments of meditation into the routine experiences
of our every day lives.
There is a possibility that, as I wash dishes, I can also be aware of
the comings and goings of thoughts and feelings. I’ve had many moments
of sadness and joy as the water runs over my hands, as the movement of
washing happens. The cycle may begin with resistance and dread, yet
there are many times when it ends with a sense of joy, relaxation, and
presence. I aim to let in the moments of completion and realize the
cycle will begin again. Life really is full of these opportunities to
aim for being here fully with the rhythms of things.
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