Have you ever been physically present and completely somewhere else?

Someone is telling you a story, but you’re replaying yesterday’s conversation.

You’re sitting at dinner while mentally working through tomorrow’s problem.

You finally get the weekend you needed, then spend half of Sunday dreading Monday.

The body is here.

The mind has other plans.

And sometimes we don’t notice what we missed until the moment is already gone.

Yesterday and Tomorrow Both Have a Job

The past matters.

It teaches us. It holds people and experiences we don’t want to forget. Sometimes it needs revisiting because there is still something to understand.

The future matters too.

We need plans. Dreams. Appointments. Savings accounts. Something to look forward to.

The problem comes when yesterday and tomorrow take up so much room that today gets whatever is left.

I think about the ordinary moments we assume we’ll get again.

The conversation at the kitchen counter.

The drive with someone you love.

A coworker stopping by to tell you something that has nothing to do with work.

A child telling a story that takes far longer than the story needs to take.

The song playing while you’re cooking.

Nothing remarkable.

Until one day, you’d give almost anything to have one of those ordinary moments back.

Come Back

Being present doesn’t require meditation, perfect focus or never worrying about tomorrow.

Sometimes you just need to catch yourself leaving.

Put the phone down.

Look at the person talking.

Finish the song.

Taste the food.

Take the picture, then stop looking at life through the camera.

Let an ordinary moment be enough without needing to turn it into something productive.

The mind will wander again.

Bring it back.

Life doesn’t happen exclusively in milestones.

A surprising amount of it happens between them.

Don’t miss too much of yours while thinking about somewhere else.