Be Here Now

I spend an inordinate amount of time living anywhere but here and now.

Take right now, for example: two things are on my mind - the stories I have to write this afternoon and the snow and how it might impede my ability to shop for groceries tomorrow - and I do need to shop because I am running very, very low.

Why can't I just be in the present and enjoy the white flakes coming down?

I have also spent a good deal of my life living in the past - rarely these days but that's because I'm happy and excited about the future. But being happy about the future still keeps me in the future rather than the present. In years past I spent time in the past because I was heartbroken, missing someone, regretting - all the usual suspect emotions.

I am madly happy about my life right now but I have no clue what the trick is to staying present. When I meditate my mind chatters - usually about what I'll do as soon as I'm done meditating. Yes, I know, follow the breath - and I do that and it brings me back for all of two seconds.

I wonder if sleep is the only time I am fully present.

So okay - being present right now means I am presently thinking about the future - that is my present. Is that cheating?