Musings on mindfulness and being in the moment. Stick with me here.

I know that the sentiment has been echoed a lot recently, or at least I feel as if I have been reading a lot about it, but there is something to be said about being present in a moment; aware, if only for a second, of the space you occupy and the world around you.

It struck me as I drove home from the train station, where I had spent the past couple of hours wishing I was already home, thinking about the future, planning and worrying, certain that I could only be happy at some indistinct point that wasn’t now. Maybe when I had finally reached my doorstep. Maybe when I was finally sitting at home in my pyjamas. Maybe at some point tomorrow, or the week after.

The thing is, though, when would that cycle of thinking end? I could never reach that moment of aah, now I’m happy and my thoughts would only progress onto thinking about the next days, the weeks, the years, and suddenly I’d find that my whole life had flown by always thinking about the future and never really being present in the, well, present.

So why can’t I take a moment, then? On the short drive home past fields where the sun was just beginning to break from behind billowing clouds, I listened to one of my favourite Jack Johnson CDs and I made the conscious decision to love myself and everything around me in that exact moment. And to just be happy.

I’m not going to lie: I had many of these moments when I was travelling. Heck, about three times a day something amazing would happen, or I’d be in some spectacular place and I’d feel a real pinch me sense of happiness in the moment. But as I’ve iterated before, that’s easy. Anyone can be happy in the mountains when they have no responsibilities, but I’m not going to be in the mountains with no responsibilities forever, and I want to carry this thought process forward with me into everyday life.

So take it from me – it just takes a second. It’s a thought, an awareness. A pinch me this is my life even though I’m somewhere uninteresting doing something boring but hey, I’m here and happy moment of mindfulness.

You’re here. You’re now. And you’re you. What more do you need?