Being Fully Present

When people talk about being "fully present", most of it is made up gobbledygook... because almost no one really knows what it is like to experience that blissful state.

Imagine that Eric Clapton is playing the opening licks to the song "Layla". Imagine that you're watching him... his eyes are closed, his fingers move without any thought or direction, and it feels as though the music is flowing straight out of his soul. That's what it's like to be fully present.

Now imagine that you are trying to play the same licks. You are almost certainly thinking, "Start with my index finger on the fifth fret of the first string. Use my ring finger to play the seventh fret of the first string. Now, move my index finger up to the eighth fret of the second string. Use my ring finger again to play the tenth fret of the second string. Finally, slide my ring finger down to the ninth fret of the second string. As I play each note, hold it for the same duration and give it a slight vibrato—a small shake—to add some character to the sound."

This is how most of us spend 99.99999% of our waking existence, with words and thoughts filling our mind and pulling us into either the past or future.

To be fully present, you must leave words and thoughts behind.