Welcome to the Daily Quote, the podcast designed to kickstart your day in a positive way. I'm your host, Andrew McGivern, and this episode is brought to you by the Great News podcast. Because great news should be heard, and the link is right here in the show notes.
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Today’s quote is from Thich Nhat Hanh.
He is the author of The Miracle of Mindfulness. I’ve read the first just the first 6 pages and it literally changed my life.
Thich Nhat Hanh once said…
“Nothing is more precious than being in the present moment. Fully alive, fully aware.”
Life happens in the present moment. The past exists only in our memories and the future exists only in our expectations and imagination. The only moment we can directly experience is this one, right now. Being physically present is not the same being mentally present. You can sit beside someone you love while thinking about work, scrolling through your phone, or worrying about tomorrow. You may be there but you’re not fully there.
What this quote means by fully alive and fully aware is that every experience becomes more powerful when you give them your full attention. The taste of your morning coffee, the warmth of the sun on your skin, a good conversation or a good laugh.
I got the book The Miracle of Mindfulness for Christmas one year. It was in my stocking and although it is the kind of book I like reading, it sat on the coffee table for over a year. I didn’t pick it up until I was asked if I’m ever going to read it! I read the forward and it peaked my interest so I started the first chapter and by the time I got six pages in I had one of those light bulb moments.
Thich Nhat Hanh wrote about a conversation he had with a friend who was always preoccupied with other thoughts no matter what he was doing. And I could relate. When I was walking the dog I felt I should be working. When I was at my son’s soccer game I felt like I should be writing or working on my website or something. When I was at the office I felt like I should be home with the family. No matter what I was doing I was thinking of something else.. I wasn’t really conscious of it as something bad… it was just the way it is.I felt that I never had the time for myself to do everything I wanted to do. And it created this underlying anxiety that was always there. Nagging away at me. I had divided my time into segments, time for family, time for work, time for the dog, time for projects and time for me. Well, in the book Hanh’s friend said he realized that he had all the time in the world to do everything he wanted to do. He had unlimited time for himself because he stopped thinking about his time being divided. His time for his kids was also his time. Time for his wife was also his time. Time for work was his time. He had all the time in the world for himself because it was all his time.I thought about this and realized that I have all the time I could possibly have. And in that moment I felt that anxiety evaporate. I put the book down thinking that maybe it wouldn’t last. So I decided to see how long until the anxiety came back.
This was years ago and it never came back. Nothing in my life had actually improved (actually it got worse) but everything was better because I was fully present.
So here’s the question:
When was the last time you were completely present in the moment? Not thinking that you should be doing something else or thinking of the past or the future… but present in the moment. Remember all the time you have is your time!
That’s going to do it for today.
I’m Andrew McGivern signing off for now, but I’ll be back… tomorrow! Same pod time, same pod station with another Daily Quote.
