Here and Now

Where are you? You might answer, "At the computer," or "At home," or even "Earth."

What time is it? Perhaps you've looked at your watch or a clock. Or maybe you thought of the season. Or the slowness of your computer makes you think that it's time for a new one. Very possibly, it's time to read a different blog.

Well, if you haven't guessed by reading the title, the answers to "Where are you?" and "What time is it?" are simply "Here" and "Now."

When our minds wander, we might think about the future or dwell on the past. And we'll often think of ourselves being in another place. Like the elementary school playground way back when we were in fourth grade. Or at the intersection where the other driver ran the red light just a few moments ago. Or the upcoming job interview, or the approaching hurricane.

We don't like to worry. So why do we do it? It probably helped humans to worry back in prehistoric times. Worry made us think about food and shelter. It motivated us to ensure our survival.

But today, most of us don't need to worry about survival. So our worry bone finds other things to dwell on. When it makes us worry about things we cannot control or change, we can make ourselves sick. So we need to bring ourselves back to the Here and Now.

A Yahoo search on "Here and Now Mindfulness" brought up too many links to list. The link to the Ananda.org site really gets to the essence of how to get to the Here and Now.

Good luck!