this i believe essay about living in the moment

Should we live in the moment — or not?

In essays, philosopher John Martin Fischer explores whether the concept of “Be here now” is all it’s cracked up to be

John Martin Fischer, a leading philosopher of  free will and moral responsibility , has written two companion essays exploring the ideas of mindfulness and living in the moment, which are often encapsulated in the phrase: “Be here now.”

In the first piece, published by Aeon , Fischer sorts through various theories regarding the “singularity” of the present moment and whether it’s helpful to view the world and our experiences solely through this prism. Readers will also learn how The Flaming Lips and Fleetwood Mac perhaps unwittingly found themselves on different sides of this debate based on the lyrics of some of their biggest hits.

In the second, Fischer writes for The Blog of the American Philosophical Association  that the idea of “Be here now” can, and perhaps should, be reoriented when confronting a present moment filled with suffering, such as a 15-month global pandemic that has claimed more than 3.7 million lives around the world.

Fischer, a distinguished professor of philosophy, is no stranger to studying issues related to death. He believes wondering about death is an essential aspect of being a “meaning-seeking being,” and that how we view death has significant implications for how we live our lives. 

Fischer’s book  “Death, Immortality, and Meaning in Life,” published in 2019 by Oxford University Press, discusses a broad range of ideas about what makes a life meaningful and how our attitudes toward death influence our approaches to life. 

In 2012, Fischer received the largest grant ever awarded to a humanities professor at UCR: $5.2 million from the John Templeton Foundation to study immortality. The funding supported the establishment of the three-year  Immortality Project , an initiative directed and administered by Fischer, who used it to award subgrants to 34 teams of researchers around the world. So far, the Immortality Project has produced more than 100 published books and journal articles.

Fischer joined UCR’s faculty in 1988. He is the only philosopher to be named a University Professor by the University of California Board of Regents, an honor he received in 2017, and has authored and co-authored eight books and more than 150 essays.

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32 “This I Believe” Essay

The history of ‘this i believe’.

by Tanya Matthews

This I Believe is an exciting media project that invites individuals from all walks of life to write about and discuss the core beliefs that guide their daily lives. They share these statements in weekly broadcasts on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered .

The series is based on the 1950’s radio program This I Believe , hosted by acclaimed journalist Edward R. Murrow. Each day, some 39-million Americans gathered by their radios to hear compelling essays from the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, Helen Keller and Harry Truman as well as corporate leaders, cab drivers, scientists and secretaries — anyone able to distill into a few minutes the guiding principles by which they lived. Their words brought comfort and inspiration to a country worried about the Cold War, McCarthyism and racial division.

Eventually, the radio series became a cultural phenomenon. Eighty-five leading newspapers printed a weekly column based on This I Believe . A collection of essays published in 1952 sold 300,000 copies — second only to the Bible that year. The series was translated and broadcast around the globe on the Voice of America. A book of essays translated into Arabic sold 30,000 copies in just three days.

[The NPR series This I Believe can be read and heard here . In addition, the website and organization This I Believe houses thousands of essays written by famous people, such as the ones mentioned above, and everyday people like you and me.]

As a college student in 2020, you are faced with turbulent politics, socioeconomic issues, and ethical dilemmas that will challenge you to take a stand and contribute to the local, national, and global conversation around you. The purpose of this writing task is not to persuade you to agree on the same beliefs. Rather, it is to encourage you to begin the much more difficult task of developing respect for beliefs different from your own. Fifty years ago, Edward R. Murrow’s project struck such a chord with millions of Americans. It can do so again today…with you.

Video Resources for Generating Ideas

Dan gediman on writing a “this i believe essay”.

Read Cecelia Munoz’s essay “Getting Angry Can Be a Good Thing” referred to in the previous video here .

“This I Believe” Essay with Animation

“This I Believe” Essay Ideas

Prewriting Activity

1) analyze others’ statements.

Consider the following statements, written in response to the question What Have You Learned About Life? Highlight any sentences that resonate with you. Talk about them with a partner or group, explaining why. 1. I’ve learned that when I wave to people in the country, they stop what they are doing and wave back. – Age 9 2. I’ve learned that if you want to cheer yourself up, you should try cheering someone else up. – Age 14 3. I’ve learned that although it’s hard to admit it, I’m secretly glad my parents are strict with me. – Age 15 4. I’ve learned that if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it. – Age 39 5. I’ve learned that there are people who love you dearly but just don’t know how to show it. – Age 42 6. I’ve learned that you can make someone’s day by simply sending them a little note. – Age 44 7. I’ve learned that the greater a person’s sense of guilt, the greater his or her need to cast blame on others. – Age 46 8. I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. – Age 48 9. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you miss them terribly after they die. – Age 53 10. I’ve learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life. – Age 58 11. I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. – Age 62 12. I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with kindness, I usually make the right decision. – Age 66 13. I’ve learned that it pays to believe in miracles. And to tell the truth, I’ve seen several. – Age 75 14. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. – Age 82 15. I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch—holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. – Age 85 16. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. – Age 92

2) Compose Your Own Statement

Write down a sentence that expresses what YOU have learned about life. Maybe it is similar to one of the statements above; maybe it’s completely different. Whatever it is, write it down.

3) Freewrit e

Now free-write about your sentence. Include at least two examples / experiences that you have had that support why you think this way.

Personal Statement/Philosophy: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Why do you believe in this statement? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Name two experiences that you had that would support the statement: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What does this say about yourself or your personality? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ After your life experience, how have you come to the conclusion that this should be your statement? How have your beliefs changed, if at all? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ How has the event effected your relationship with a person, place, or object? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ How does your statement apply to you today? (How you view yourself & society) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAYS

Sample #1: america’s beauty is in its diversity.

written by Alaa El-Saad,  high school student,  as heard on NPR’s Tell Me More (2009)

America is built on the idea of freedom, and there is no exception for Muslim women. I believe in the freedom of religion and speech. But mostly, I believe it’s OK to be different, and to stand up for who and what you are. So I believe in wearing the hijab.

The hijab is a religious head covering, like a scarf. I am Muslim and keeping my head covered is a sign of maturity and respect toward my religion and to Allah’s will. To be honest, I also like to wear it to be different. I don’t usually like to do what everyone else is doing. I want to be an individual, not just part of the crowd. But when I first wore it, I was also afraid of the reaction that I’d get at school.

I decided on my own that sixth grade was the time I should start wearing the hijab. I was scared about what the kids would say or even do to me. I thought they might make fun of me, or even be scared of me and pull off my headscarf. Kids at that age usually like to be all the same, and there’s little or no acceptance for being different.

On the first day of school, I put all those negative thoughts behind my back and walked in with my head held high. I was holding my breath a little, but inside I was also proud to be a Muslim, proud to be wearing the hijab, proud to be different.

I was wrong about everything I thought the kids would say or even do to me. I actually met a lot of people because of wearing my head covering. Most of the kids would come and ask me questions—respectfully—about the hijab, and why I wore it.

I did hear some kid was making fun of me, but there was one girl—she wasn’t even in my class, we never really talked much—and she stood up for me, and I wasn’t even there! I made a lot of new friends that year, friends that I still have until this very day, five years later.

Yes, I’m different, but everyone is different here, in one way or another. This is the beauty of America. I believe in what America is built on: all different religions, races and beliefs. Different everything.

Sample #2: The Essentials to Happiness

written by Alexxandra Schuman, high school student, as heard on The Bob Edwards Show (2013)

As a child, I was generally happy; singing and dancing to my favorite songs; smiling and laughing with my friends and family. But as far back as second grade, I noticed a “darkness,” about me. I didn’t enjoy engaging in many things. I didn’t relate to my peers in elementary school because they appeared so happy, and I didn’t have that ability to achieve happiness so easily.

In middle school things in my life began to get even worse. I began withdrawing from everything I once enjoyed; swimming, tennis, family. I hated going to sleep knowing I had to wake up to another day. I was always tired. Everything was horrible. Finally, midway through eighth grade, I was told I had a chemical imbalance; diagnosed with clinical depression and put on medication. It took months for me to feel the effects of the medication.

When I began to feel happy again, is when I realized that I had to take the responsibility for getting better myself, rather than relying on medication and therapy alone. Aristotle said, “To live happily is an inward power of the soul,” and I believe that this quote describes what I had to do to achieve happiness. Happiness is a journey. Everyone seems to need different things to be happy. But I believe people are blinded from what truly makes one happy.

Growing up, we’re encouraged to be successful in life; but how is success defined? Success and happiness are imagined now as having a lot of money. It is so untrue. Recently I went to Costa Rica and visited the small town of El Roble. I spent the day with a nine-year old girl named Marilyn. She took me to her house to meet her parents. It was obvious that they were not rich; living in a small house with seven children. The house was cluttered but full of life. Those who have decided that success and happiness comes from having money and a big house would be appalled at how utterly happy this family from El Roble is. People say that seeing things like that make you appreciate what you have, but for me, it made me envy them for being so happy without all the things I have.

“The essentials to happiness are something to love, something to do, and something to hope for,” a quote from William Blake sums up what I believe people need to realize to be truly happy in life. People need love; I feel they need their family and their friends more than anything in the world. People need work to do, something to make them feel they are making a difference in the world. People need to know that more good is to come in the future, so they continue to live for “now” instead of constantly worrying about the bad that could come. And most importantly people need to know that happiness is not something that happens overnight. Love and hope is happiness.

Sample #3: Find a Good Frog

written by Delia Motavalli, high school student, as heard on The Bob Edwards Show (2013)

I believe in finding a good frog. It seems that all throughout childhood, we are taught to look for a happily ever after. “And they all lived happily ever after”; isn’t that the conclusion to many children’s films? When I was a kid I always thought of that as magical; but now really it just seems unrealistic. And it teaches us that what we want is a fairytale like they have in the storybooks. We all want to be Cinderella who gets swept off her feet by the hot prince; we want to live in the royal castle, right? But I don’t think that’s necessarily a good thing for us to seek. Now I’m not saying I believe in being pessimistic, but I do believe in being realistic; it’s something I got from my mom.

My mother and I always have our best conversations in the rain. We sit in the car, neither of us wanting to brave the rain to get to the house. So we sit. We watch droplets race down the windshield, listen to the rain strike the roof of her little blue Honda, and feel the heater on full-blast rushing at our feet (just the way we like it). I don’t know why, but sitting in the car, we always talk more than normal. There was one rainy day when my mom told me something that is going to stick with me forever. Earlier that day she and my dad had been arguing about something; I can’t remember what. So she said, “Don’t spend your life looking for Prince Charming. Instead, find yourself a really good frog.”

At the time, I found this thought really disheartening. Who wants to think that you’ll never find Prince Charming? You’ll never get to be Cinderella? Another thought that struck my mind: if my mom says there’s no Prince Charming, then what’s my dad? A frog? I asked her, and she replied with, “Of course! If he were Prince Charming, he wouldn’t snore, would be able to cook, and we would never argue. But you know what? He’s a damn good frog.” Of course, being young, I didn’t think of the meaning behind what she was saying. I was too busy thinking of it literally, visualizing my mom as a princess and my dad in frog form.

But a few years later, I understand the value of my mom’s words. You can’t expect everything to be perfect. Let’s be completely honest; if you wait your whole life for your prince with flowing hair, statuesque features, and a white horse, you’re going to be lonely. I think that the point of finding a good frog is you accept something that’s great, flaws and all. It’s so easy to be picky. You can find the one tiny thing that’s wrong, and that one tiny thing is what you can’t get your mind off of. But in life, we can’t afford to wait years in vain for perfection. So I think that a good frog, an amazing frog, the best frog you can find is what we’re really looking for in this world. Don’t laze through life waiting for a happily ever after, because I don’t think you’ll be very happy with the outcome.

Examples from the ‘This I Believe’ Website

Be Cool to the Pizza Dude by Sarah Adams

They Lived Their Faith by Charles Henry Parrish

Returning to What’s Natural by Amelia Baxter-Stoltzfus

The Birthright of Human Dignity by Will Thomas

Remembering All The Boys by Elvia Bautista

I Am Still The Greatest by Muhammad Ali

A Goal Of Service To Humankind by Anthony Fauci

My Life Is Better by Abraham

Give Me a Waffle by Brenda

The Little Things by Sophie Crossley

You can also browse thousands more This I Believe essays by theme .

Prefer to Listen to Get Inspiration?

Check out This I Believe’s Podcast Series

4) Drafting

Assignment guidelines + suggestions and tips for drafting.

1. While the examples you’ve been given can serve as a model, it is essential that each of you write about a personal belief or philosophy that you feel strongly about. 2. Tell a story. Personal experiences are the corner stone of a good essay. Your story doesn’t have to be a heart breaker or even a major event, but it must be something that has affected how you think, feel, and act. List your personal experiences that you intend to use as evidence below: 3. Be concise. Avoid repetition. This essay should be between 500 – 650 words. When read aloud, it should take roughly four minutes. 4. Name your belief. It is essential that you can name your belief in a sentence or two. Focus on one belief only. This is your thesis. Write it here: 5. Be positive. Avoid preaching or persuading. You aren’t trying to change the way others think or act. Write about what you believe, not what you don’t believe. 6. Use the first person. Speak for yourself. Avoid using we or you. 7. Let your voice shine. Use language that sounds like you. Read it aloud as your revise. Keep making changes until your essay sounds like you and captures the essence of your belief.

5) Peer Review

Once you have written your first draft, arrange for your essay to be edited by a peer, using the following Peer-Editing Checklist: Writer’s Name: ________________________________________________ Peer Editor’s Name: ________________________________________________ Use your PENCIL or PEN (NOT red or green) to make corrections. Remember, this essay is a work in progress. You are not done writing! Look for ways to improve what you’ve already written. Tick each step if it has been completed. _____ 1. Read the paper backwards, one sentence at a time. Check for spelling errors. Use a dictionary, a friend, or a spell checker to find the correct spelling. _____ 2. Check for capitalized proper nouns and the first word of each sentence. _____ 3. Skip a line between each paragraph. _____ 4. Every sentence should have end punctuation. _____ 5. Check commas. Are they only used for compound sentences, a list of items, an introductory word or phrase, direct address, setting off interruptions, separating adjectives, or in dates? Do you need to add commas? Make sure you do not have commas separating complete sentences (i.e. comma splice errors that create run-on sentences). _____ 6. Apostrophes are used only for contractions and to show ownership. _____ 7. The use of more complex punctuation (dashes, hyphens, semi-colons, parentheses, etc.) is done correctly. _____ 8. Have you used commonly mixed pairs of words correctly? Check these: they’re/their/there, your/you’re, it’s/its, a/an, to/too/two, are/our/hour, and others. _____ 9. Read the paper backwards one sentence at a time. Check for sentence fragments and run-ons and correct them. _____ 10. Did you stay in present tense (such as is, am, do, take, know, etc.) or past tense (such as was, were, did, took, knew, etc.) throughout the entire essay? _____ 11. Did you stay in first person (I, me, my, we, us, our) or third person (he, him, she, her, they, them, their) throughout the entire essay? _____ 12. Was there adequate use of specific details and sensory details? Were the details clear and relevant to the statement? _____ 13. Is the overall purpose/philosophy clear? _____ 14. Does the conclusion make you go, “Wow!” “Cool!” “I never thought about it that way,” or any other similar reaction? Other suggestions for the overall content of the piece: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This I Believe by Tanya Matthews is licensed by CC-BY-SA

“This I Believe” Essay Copyright © 2020 by Liza Long; Amy Minervini; and Joel Gladd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Be More Present

Arlin Cuncic, MA, is the author of The Anxiety Workbook and founder of the website About Social Anxiety. She has a Master's degree in clinical psychology.

Rachel Goldman, PhD FTOS, is a licensed psychologist, clinical assistant professor, speaker, wellness expert specializing in eating behaviors, stress management, and health behavior change.

Getty / DianaHirsch

Notice Your Surroundings

• Don't Multitask
• Show Gratitude
• Be Accepting

Practice Mindfulness Meditation

• Find Social Support
• Practice Deep Breathing
• Limit Social Media and Tech

Frequently Asked Questions

Many people want to learn more about how to live in the moment. Most of us have a tendency to live in the past or the future . How often do you find yourself thinking about what happened yesterday, or what might happen tomorrow? How does this affect your life and well-being?

Constantly thinking about the past and worrying about the future can make it difficult to enjoy the good things in your life in the here and now. Learning how to be more mindful and live in the moment can give you a greater appreciation for your life, help reduce stress, and minimize anxiety.

In this article, we will discuss how to live in the present moment more frequently, and some ways that can help you get back into living mindfully.

One way to be in the present moment is by noticing your surroundings. How often do you take time out of your day to actually look around and see what's going on? When was the last time you sat down, closed your eyes, took a deep breath, and just looked at everything around you?

Take this opportunity right now: close both of your eyes and take a deep breath, then open them and really take in where you are.

• How do the walls look?
• What about the floor or ceiling—what patterns can you see there?
• How many windows are there to your left and right?
• How many lights can you count from here?

When you stop to look at your surroundings and take in everything around you, it's easier to be more present in the moment.

Focus on One Thing at a Time

When you are learning how to live in the moment, it is helpful to focus your attention on one thing at a time. While it may feel more productive to multitask and work on more than one thing at a time, constantly juggling multiple tasks makes it hard to live in the present moment.

While doing something that requires your full attention can seem overwhelming at first, be aware of how much more productive you are when fully engaged in a task. Compare this with trying to squeeze multiple things into one period of time or spending half of your energy on three different projects.

If you're working on something, give it all of your attention. When you find yourself thinking about other things or checking your phone because you don't feel like doing the task at hand, stop and turn that focus back to what's in front of you.

Research shows that when you are fully focused on what's happening at that moment, you can better remember details in the long term anyway.

Be Grateful For What You Have Now

Part of living in the present moment is taking the time to be grateful for what you have now (not in the past or in the future). If you are constantly focused on things you don't have, you aren't taking the time to appreciate what you have right now at this moment.

One way to practice gratitude is to write a list of things you are grateful for and review that list on a daily basis. Try to write at least three things you are grateful for in your life right now. Alternatively, you can do a gratitude rampage, where you write out as many things as you can think of in a certain time period.

Press Play for Advice On Practicing Gratitude

Hosted by therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares strategies for practicing gratitude. Click below to listen now.

Follow Now : Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts / Amazon Music

Show Acceptance

If you want to learn how to be more present, you need to let go of how you think things should be and accept them for what they are. Focus on accepting things as they are and not on how you want them to be.

You cannot control everything that happens around you; sometimes life is going to be different than how you want it to be. Practicing acceptance will help you let go of the things in your life that are out of your control.

One way to live more in the present moment is by practicing mindfulness meditation. This type of meditation helps people become aware and increase their concentration on what they are doing at any given time.

Starting a daily meditation practice can help you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings, which can in turn increase the amount of time that you spend in the present moment.

Mindful Moment

Need a breather? Take this free 9-minute meditation focused on being present —or choose from our guided meditation library to find another one that will help you feel your best.

Find Positive Social Support

The kind of social support you have in your life can also play an important role in helping you learn how to live in the moment. When you are around people who are supportive and positive, it is much easier to be more present in your life.

Spending time with people who make you feel happy and fulfilled can be a great way to help yourself live in the present moment.

Surrounding yourself with positive, supportive people will increase your own positivity and happiness levels. In turn, this will allow you to focus on what is going well right now instead of dwelling on past or future events.

Be Mindful of Everything You Do

Whatever you are doing from eating to scrolling your phone, you should be mindful of it . How often are you eating your lunch while watching TV at the same time? This is one way you might distance yourself from what you are doing and not live in the present moment because all of your attention isn't on that task or activity.

• Instead, try to focus on each meal while you eat.
• How does the food smell?
• How does it taste?
• How is your body reacting to what you have eaten so far?
• What sounds are around while you eat - phone calls, traffic noises from outside, music playing in the background.

By focusing on these details and being mindful of everything going on around you during a specific task or activity, this will help bring more present-moment awareness into your life.

Practice Deep Breathing Exercises

Deep breathing can be a useful technique when you are trying to learn how to live in the moment. Taking the time to sit down and practice a deep breathing exercise will help you focus your mind on the task at hand.

Taking slow, regulated breaths helps to prevent feelings of panic or any other negative thoughts from taking over while allowing for more control during the activity in which you are currently engaged. One quick and easy method to try is the 4-7-8 breathing technique .

Take a Break From Social Media and Technology

Taking a break from social media and other technology can also help you to stay more present-focused. While you might think that constantly checking your social media accounts is helping you stay connected to the world, it is actually having a negative effect on your ability to be present.

How many times have you been doing something else and found yourself checking social media? It's important that you learn how to avoid letting technology take over your life as this can really prevent you from being mindful of what is going on around you.

In particular, when you are with other people, it is important that you focus on the people and environment around you, rather than being distracted by your cell phone.

Get Regular Exercise or Do Some Yoga

Regular exercise or even just taking a stroll through the park can help you to be more present. Including yoga as part of your daily routine is another great way to live in the present, especially if it's coupled with meditation and mindfulness exercises.

If you can't make time for all full yoga class, just stopping what you are doing to take a couple of minutes for some basic poses can help you to get back into the moment.

A Word From Verywell

If you want to learn how to live in the moment, then you need to take the time to appreciate where you are, what you're doing, and who is with you. Instead of becoming caught up in the past or worrying about what will happen in the future, try to savor each moment as it passes.

If you need help with this process, talking to a therapist can be very helpful. They can give you tools and techniques that may make living in the present easier for you.

Constant distractions combined with feelings of anxiety and stress can make it difficult to focus on the present moment. It is easy to get caught up in thinking about the past or worrying about things that haven't happened yet.

Three strategies that can help you be more present in your life include practicing mindfulness, showing gratitude, and only focusing on one thing at a time.

Work on focusing your thoughts and attention on the other person. When you find your mind wandering to other thoughts, gentry redirect your focus back to the present. Utilize active listening when you are talking to the other person and be curious about the things they have to say. Ask open-ended questions and reflect back on what the other person has shared.

Madore KP, Khazenzon AM, Backes CW, et al. Memory failure predicted by attention lapsing and media multitasking .  Nature . 2020;587(7832):87-91. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2870-z

Wood AM, Froh JJ, Geraghty AW. Gratitude and well-being: a review and theoretical integration .  Clin Psychol Rev . 2010;30(7):890-905. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.005

Creswell JD. Mindfulness Interventions .  Annu Rev Psychol . 2017;68:491-516. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-042716-051139

By Arlin Cuncic, MA Arlin Cuncic, MA, is the author of The Anxiety Workbook and founder of the website About Social Anxiety. She has a Master's degree in clinical psychology.

Live In the Moment: 10 Ways to Live In the Present

Live in the moment where being present allows you to enjoy life. Life isn’t meant to be lived in the deep corners of your mind. You can find so much joy, purpose, and meaning in life by focusing on the present moment. Living in the present allows you to notice the little moments and things that bring you joy. In this article, we’ll look at what it means to live in the moment and how to live in the present moment if you find yourself feeling lost or feeling stuck in the wrong time period. 

What does it mean to live in the moment?

To live in the moment means to be attentive to the present moment. When living in the moment, you’re experiencing the world around you. People who live in the moment aren’t distracted by thoughts, televisions, or phones. 

For example, if you were walking in nature, you might notice leaves falling, spiders walking around your feet, the coolness of the breeze, or the difficulty of climbing uphill. It’s all about the lived experience. 

Is living in the moment good?

Yes, living in the moment is good. Some think that living in the moment is all about spontaneity and living life to the fullest. That’s only one perception. Living in the moment is about experiencing the world around you as it happens without injecting thought into it. The benefit of living in the moment is that there’s no stress. Stress comes from thinking. However, when we live in the present, we are free of the judgment of thoughts, allowing us to experience inner peace . There’s a sense of calm in living in the moment making life exciting, beautiful, and free. 

Why do we worry about the future?

We worry about the future for survival purposes. We’ve been programmed to fear danger, threats, and things that prevent us from living long enough to procreate. Since it’s genetically wired into our brains to fear danger, it’s normal to worry about the future. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t harm us, though. Anxiety triggers our fight and flight response. 

However, the world today doesn’t have the same dangers our ancestors had thousands of years ago. We’re no longer hunting or gathering for our food. Many of us don’t need to run away from wild animals. In today’s world, it’s important to live in the present so that we aren’t anxious about things that won’t lead to our demise. 

Why do we get stuck in the past?

Our thoughts sometimes punish us by replaying words, images, or emotions that bring us back into the past. Living in the past prevents us from living in the moment. We get stuck in the past because we’re trying to solve an unsolvable problem. So, we repeat negative thoughts to help us find new patterns. As a result, we get stuck in the same cycles repeatedly. It’s crucial to speak with a therapist to break out of the thought cycle so you can move forward from trauma, insecurities, or past pain. 

Is it possible to live in the moment?

Yes, it’s possible to live in the moment. You can do this by not allowing yourself to be controlled by thoughts. In meditation, you practice watching your thoughts pass by. You can choose not to attach to the thoughts in your head so you can live in the moment. Getting into a flow state allows you to experience something to the point of losing track of time. You become immersed in something you’re passionate about. Doing things you enjoy, meditating, and having fun are all ways to live in the moment naturally. 

How to live in the moment

1. practice meditation.

It’s much easier to live in the moment when you practice meditation. Following a quick 10-minute guided meditation , every day helps remind you that you are not your thoughts. Your negative thoughts merely come to you, beyond your control. And realizing that you don’t have to identify with them is a huge help in living in the present moment. You can install a popular app like Declutter The Mind or check out meditation videos on YouTube to find free meditations you can follow. For instance, you can try this meditation on being present to help you practice mindfulness. 

2. Improve your physical health

Many sedentary people don’t like hearing they need to exercise more. And while being reminded to exercise can be draining to hear when you don’t have time, exercise plays a huge role in your mental health. If you find yourself stuck in the past or fearing the future, you aren’t living in the moment because you’re in the wrong time frame. Exercise helps reduce the fight and flight response from triggering too often. That way, it’ll be much easier to live in the moment instead of worrying about the future. Exercise also helps prevent and delay brain illnesses like dementia. So overall, if you’re looking to keep your mind sharp and healthy so you can just enjoy the moment, consider going for a daily walk outdoors or on the treadmill. 

3. Calm the mind

The easiest way to calm the mind is to do right-brain activities. That includes practicing mindfulness , painting, drawing, making crafts, woodworking, dancing, creating origami pieces, and so much more. When you activate the right brain, the left brain silences itself a bit. Instead of the left brain, which controls language and, therefore, thoughts, taking you down a rabbit hole of negative thinking, it simply quiets down. Keep in mind that both your left and right brain are always working. So activating the right brain doesn’t completely turn off the left brain as it’s not possible. However, having a stronger right brain can help reduce thinking. Also, many of the activities listed in this section can help you get into a flow state, where toxic thinking usually doesn’t come about. 

One of the easiest ways to live in the moment is to be kind. When being kind, our right brain is activated as compassion is a right-brain activity. Going out of your way to do acts of kindness is a healthy way to live your life to the fullest while having peace of mind . You can live presently when being kind. Also, people who fear the future typically don’t when they’re doing good deeds because they’re shaping the way their future looks. While bad things can still happen to good people, it’s a lot harder for things to go wrong when you’re constantly helping others and doing acts of generosity . Plus, you can have so much fun planning kindness, especially if you convince others to join along with you. For example, reading a response to an epic birthday message you sent can give you goosebumps. Or seeing the reaction of a kind gesture you did.

When we have a panic attack or are hyperventilating, we often fear the future. To live in the present or to live in the moment, we can control our breathing to ease our minds back to reality. In the present moment, we are safe. When we take time to breathe, it helps calm the rest of our bodies. Breathing helps regulate our blood pressure and heart rate. When our heart is beating rapidly due to anxiety, we can breathe to change that. We often have our minds wandering, making it hard to live in the moment. So, the next time you’re breathing to help you live in the moment, consider doing a breathing meditation , which helps reduce the movement between two thoughts by getting you to focus on the gap between those two unhelpful thoughts. 

6. Seek therapy

Everyone should start therapy at a young age. Imagine how much better life would be if you were taught the coping tools to manage difficult emotions as a child. If you knew how to control your emotions , you could live in the moment all the time because you can experience life without being brought down by changes in mood. If you find a therapist who can help you deal with unresolved trauma, educate you on how to get out of your head , and learn how to calm anxiety , you’ll be better off than most people. Depending on where you’re located, those who can’t afford therapy may be able to qualify for free depending on the severity of their symptoms. Insurance policies sometimes allow therapy up to a specific price range. You can also find tools by looking up different types of therapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, and more. You can find all the sheets that people fill out in therapy practice online so you can practice a do it yourself approach if paid therapy can’t help. 

7. Do things you’re passionate about

When you’re dreaming about living in the moment, consider doing things that get you into a flow state. A flow state is when you do something so intently that you lose track of time. Maybe you feel free when running outdoors with upbeat music keeping you going. Or perhaps you’re obsessed with fixing cars, solving automotive problems gets your engines running. It doesn’t matter if the things you’re passionate about are work-related, fitness-related, or hobby-related. All that matters is that you take the time to do those things that just make you feel happy. Life without your greatest pleasures isn’t worthwhile. Don’t let other people discourage you from doing the things that excite you out of bed in the morning. As long as it doesn’t hurt you or anyone else, live in the moment by doing something you love doing. 

8. Go for a nature walk

Nature helps us live in the moment. We can often get lost in our thoughts during a long mindfulness walk or have an inspiring idea strike when we step outside. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t come to life when out in nature. Walking in nature can reduce stress, improve your mood, increase brain function, and allow for better concentration. If we can concentrate better in nature, we may also be more mindful and attentive to our surroundings. Thus, we’re better equipped to live in the moment and focus on the present instead of time surfing. 

Aim to go for a nature walk at least two to three times per week without music. Music can be distracting when trying to live presently as it creates tunnel vision. While out in nature, you want to be able to experience all the beauty around you. Whether you go for a walk in a forest, trail, or a quick hike around a mountainous area, nature will still have a positive effect on your wellbeing. 

9. Eat mindfully

When was the last time you carefully noticed the taste of your food? Many people eat so quickly that they miss out on the flavors swirling in their mouths as they eat. The next meal you have, eat at a table with no distractions. No television screen, laptop, or phone nearby. Mindfully chew each piece of food for at least thirty bites. You’ll quickly notice that the flavor changes as you eat. Mindful eating is all about living in the moment during a meal. When we have a screen in front of us while eating, we miss out on the experience of eating. This can cause us to overeat as we’re not aware of our sensation of fullness. Allow yourself an opportunity to experience food differently. Eating mindfully is a simple way to live in the moment without needing to change anything drastic in your life, other than eating a bit slower. You can also practice this mindful eating meditation . 

10. Add music to your life

While music can serve as a distraction during meals or long walks in nature, it can also enhance an experience if you don’t want to do it. You can experience great attentiveness without music. However, there are times when adding a soundtrack helps liven the room. Playing soft jazz in the background while having a quiet dinner with your partner can add a hint of romanticism to another common activity. Playing music while cleaning the kitchen can help elevate your mood and enjoy the basic life chores that drain you. Dancing and rapping to your favorite song can be a fun experience. You can play a concert while walking on the treadmill to make it feel like you’re experiencing a live performance while you sing and walk at a fast pace. Sometimes all you need is a tune to whistle or sing to get you excited about the present moment and live in the moment. 

Living in the moment can be what makes your life worth living. When you find yourself feeling sad or anxious, consider moving towards the present moment. You are not your thoughts , so don’t get carried away or lost by them. Life is meant to be lived outside of your head, so don’t spend too much time in your mind. You don’t belong there. Practice meditation, get into a flow state, and do things that make you happy; that’s what living in the present is all about. 

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You also might have heard similar pieces of advice like:

• “Don’t get caught up in thinking about the past or the future—live in the now!”
• “Be present in your own life.”
• “All you have is this moment. Don’t let it slip away.”

All of these (possibly overused) sayings boil down to the same basic message: it’s vital to live in the present moment.

In our current twenty-first century lives, it’s not easy. There’s always something coming up that we need to prepare for or anticipate, and our lives are so well-documented that it’s never been easier to get lost in the past.

Given the fast pace and hectic schedules most of us keep, a base level of anxiety, stress, and unhappiness is the new norm. You may not even realize it, but this tendency to get sucked into the past and the future can leave you perpetually worn out and feeling out of touch with yourself.

The cure for this condition is what so many people have been saying all along: conscious awareness and a commitment to staying in the “now.” Living in the present moment is the solution to a problem you may not have known you had.

You might be thinking that this all sounds great, but what does it actually mean to “live in the present moment?” How could we be living in anything but the present? Read on to find out!

Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our three Mindfulness Exercises for free . These science-based, comprehensive exercises will not only help you cultivate a sense of presence and inner peace in your daily life but will also give you the tools to enhance the mindfulness of your clients, students or employees.

This Article Contains:

The psychology of living in the present, what is the meaning of the present moment, why is being present minded important, why it can be difficult to live in the now, balancing the past, present, and future, how to be present and live in the moment, how to live in the moment but plan for the future, using present moment awareness to stop worrying, using yoga to connect with the present moment, 5 exercises to strengthen present moment awareness, 5 mindfulness practices and tools to use everyday.

• 7 Recommended YouTube Videos

7 Books Definitely Worth Reading

20 quotes on the here and the now, a take-home message.

Living in the present is not just an arbitrary term or a popular phrase—it’s a recognized and evidence-backed lifestyle that psychologists are quick to recommend for those struggling with anxiety and stress in their day-to-day life.

Being in the present moment, or the “here and now,” means that we are aware and mindful of what is happening at this very moment. We are not distracted by ruminations on the past or worries about the future, but centered in the here and now. All of our attention is focused on the present moment (Thum, 2008).

As author Myrko Thum tells it, the present moment is all there truly is:

“The present moment is the only thing where there is no time. It is the point between past and future. It is always there and it is the only point we can access in time. Everything that happens, happens in the present moment. Everything that ever happened and will ever happen can only happen in the present moment. It is impossible for anything to exist outside of it.”

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Being present minded is the key to staying healthy and happy. It helps you fight anxiety, cut down on your worrying and rumination, and keeps you grounded and connected to yourself and everything around you.

Although it has become a popular topic in recent years, living in the present is not just a fad or trendy lifestyle tip, it is a way of life that is backed up by good science.

Being present and exerting our ability to be mindful not only makes us happier, it can also help us deal with pain more effectively, reduce our stress and decrease its impact on our health, and improve our ability to cope with negative emotions like fear and anger. (Halliwell, 2017).

Living in the now is so difficult because we are always encouraged to think about the future or dwell on our past. Advertisements, reminders, notifications, messages, and alerts are all so often geared towards the past or the future.

Think about how often you are busy doing something else, perhaps even fully engrossed in it, when you are jolted out of your flow by your phone’s sudden “ding!” Now, think about how often that message or notification helps you stay present and aware of the here and now.

If you’re like me, your response to that is probably “Just about never.” Our phones are incredible pieces of technology that allow us to do so much more and do it so much more efficiently than ever before, but we really need to take a break from our phones at least once in a while.

Other factors that contribute to our inability to live in the now include:

• We often edit out the bad parts of our experiences, making our past seem more enjoyable than it really was.
• We face a lot of uncertainty when we live in the present, which can cause anxiety.
• Our minds simply tend to wander!

It can be tough fighting these factors, but luckily we are not slaves to the tendencies of our brains (Tlalka, 2017). It is possible to overcome our more destructive or harmful urges and make better choices.

Multi-tasking is a common phenomenon, thanks to computers allowing us to run many programs simultaneously and our devices constantly providing us with new information (Rideout et al., 2010).

While modern technology provides many advances, and computers can multitask, we, as humans, are no computers. For us, multitasking involves constantly switching between contexts.

One cannot write a report and answer an incoming e-mail at the same time. Instead, the incoming e-mail requires reorientation and interrupts the report writing. Increased interruption due to multitasking increases stress and effort to focus attention on the task (Mark et al., 2008).

Research further indicates that increased media multitasking is associated with

• higher levels of depression and social anxiety symptoms (Becker et al., 2013),
• lower academic performance of college students (Junco & Cotten, 2011), and
• decreased ability to filter irrelevant information effectively (Ophir et al., 2009).

So what is the antidote?

It is single-tasking, which is closely related to mindfulness. While it may not be realistic to stop multi-tasking completely, these four tips can help with focusing on one thing at a time:

• Only have one browser tab open at a time
• Take frequent breaks
• Spend time away from your phone and computer
• Work in time intervals

It’s good to think about the past and future sometimes.

Where would we be if we didn’t look back over our past successes and mistakes and learn from them? Where would we be if we never planned for the future or prepared ourselves for what is to come?

In both cases, we likely wouldn’t be in a good place.

It’s essential to a healthy life to spend some time thinking about the past and the future, but it’s rare that we don’t think enough about the past or the future—usually our problem is focusing too intently (or even obsessively) on the past or the future.

One of the aims of mindfulness and a key factor in living a healthy life is to balance your thoughts of the past, the present, and the future. Thinking about any of them too much can have serious negative effects on our lives, but keeping the three in balance will help us to be happy and healthy people.

It’s hard to say what the exact right balance is, but you’ll know you’ve hit it when you worry less, experience less stress on a regular basis, and find yourself living the majority of your life in the present.

To get to this healthy balance, try to keep these guidelines in mind:

• Think about the past in small doses, and make sure you are focusing on the past for a reason (e.g., to relive a pleasant experience, identify where you went wrong, or figure out the key to a past success).
• Think about the future in small doses, and make sure you are focusing on the future in a healthy, low-anxiety way (e.g., don’t spend time worrying about the future, think about the future just long enough to prepare for it and then move on).
• Stay in the present moment for the vast majority of your time.

Of course, following these guidelines is easier said than done, but it will get easier with practice!

It might seem complicated to figure out this delicate balance, but it’s not as complex as it seems.

When we engage in mindfulness or present moment meditation, we are not ignoring or denying thoughts of the past or future, we are simply choosing not to dwell on them. It’s okay to acknowledge and label our past- and future-focused thoughts, categorize them, and be aware of their importance.

The important point is to not allow yourself to get swept up in thinking about the past or future. As Andy Puddicombe of Headspace states,

“…we can be present when consciously reflecting on events from the past (as opposed to being caught up, distracted and overwhelmed by the past”

When we are aware and present, we don’t need to worry about getting caught up in thoughts of our past or anxiety about our future—we can revisit our past and anticipate what is to come without losing ourselves.

Speaking of worry, present moment awareness is a great way to cut down on how much you worry.

Follow these six steps to become more attuned to the present and rid yourself of excess anxiety:

• Cultivate unselfconsciousness: let go and stop thinking about your performance.
• Practice savoring: avoid worrying about the future by fully experiencing the present.
• Focus on your breath: allow mindfulness to make you more peaceful and smooth your interactions with others.
• Find your flow: make the most of your time by losing track of it.
• Improve your ability to accept: move toward what is bothering you rather than denying or running away from it.
• Enhance your engagement: work on reducing moments of mindlessness and noticing new things to improve your mindfulness (Dixit, 2008).

There are many reasons why yoga is helpful for mindfulness, but one of the biggest is certainly the focus on the breath.

As yoga teacher and enthusiast Kelle Yokeley says,

“The path to presence is through our mind, body connection—our path is through our breath. The breath is ALWAYS the here and now, it is the ultimate present moment… Our breath is our constant connection to the here and now, and our presence is rooted in its flow.”

(Yokeley, 2014).

When we focus our attention on our breath, we have no choice but to be in the present.

To bring yourself back into the present in a moment of stress or when you’re feeling overwhelmed by the past or the future, you can try this breathing exercise from Yokeley:

Breath in and say to yourself, “I am breathing in”, breathe out saying, “I am breathing out.” On your next circle of breath, try saying to yourself, “I am here” coupled with “This is now” (Yokeley, 2014).

This simple exercise will bring you straight to the present, even dragging along a stubborn mind that is preoccupied with worries.

Another factor associated with yoga that allows us to boost our present moment awareness is the postures and poses that we make with our bodies. You might find that as soon as you get into a good pose, your mind becomes flooded with restless thoughts (called “Monkey Mind” by Buddhists).

As irritating as this can be, it’s actually a good thing—it means that we are beginning to process our stress and getting to a point where we can truly practice mindfulness (Bielkus, 2012).

Yoga’s gentle flow from one position to the next is a perfect opportunity to cultivate the ability to stay present. The transitions mimic the changes we experience as we go from working to resting to cooking to cleaning to sleeping and everything else in between.

If you enjoy yoga and want to work on your present moment awareness, give this affirmation a try:

“I am present and aware of this moment it is full and it is great.”

(Bielkus, 2012)

If the breathing exercise above sounds helpful, you might want to try some other exercises intended to boost your mindfulness and sense of present moment awareness. These 5 exercises are some good ways to get started.

Do a mindful body scan

This simple exercise is a great way to get yourself in a mindful mood and get in touch with your body. Doing this in the morning can also help you get your day off to a good start.

While sitting or lying down on your bed (just make sure not to fall asleep if you try this lying down!), take a few deep, mindful breaths. Notice the way your breath enters and exits your lungs.

Starting with your toes, focus your attention on one part of your body at a time. Pay attention to how that area is feeling and notice any sensations that you are experiencing (Scott, n.d.). After a few moments of focused attention, move up to the next part of your body (i.e., after your toes, focus on your feet, then ankles, then calves, etc.).

This is not only a good method for putting you in a mindful state right off the bat, it can also help you notice when your body is feeling differently than normal. You might catch an injury or illness that you wouldn’t normally notice, just by taking a few minutes each morning to scan your body.

You can learn more about the mindful body scan and other exercises here .

Write in a journal / “Morning pages”

Another good exercise that can help you set the right mindful tone for the day is to write in your journal . A specific version of this exercise that is endorsed by author Julia Cameron is called “Morning Pages.”

Here’s how to use your journal as a stepping block to a more mindful day.

Early in the morning, before you’ve headed off to work or school or started checking things off your long to-do list, take a few minutes to pull out your journal or a notebook and make an entry.

You can do a new page each day and simply write however much you feel like writing, or you can try Cameron’s Morning Pages exercise:

“Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages—they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind—and they are for your eyes only.

Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize, and synchronize the day at hand” (Cameron, n.d., as cited in Scott, n.d.).

Whether you follow Cameron’s guidelines or not, taking just a few minutes to write down any mindless “chatter” in your head or log any particularly insightful dreams can clear your head and help you start your day off in a mindful state.

Visualize your daily goals

Visualizing your  goals is an excellent method for not only making it more likely that you will follow through on your goals, it can also help you become more mindful on a regular basis.

When you have set your daily goals (see #15 – Define Three Daily Goals on this list if you need help with this piece), take a few moments to visualize each one (Scott, n.d.).

See yourself undertaking each goal and completing each goal today. Get as much detail as you can in your visualization, so it feels real and within your reach.

When you can see yourself checking that daily goal off your list, move on to the next goal and repeat until you have visualized all of your daily goals.

Practicing visualization of goal completion can not only help you improve your focus and mindfulness, it can also lower your stress, improve your performance, enhance your preparedness, and give you the extra energy or motivation you might need to accomplish everything on your list.

Take a mindful nature walk

Taking advantage of the natural beauty around us is another good way to cultivate greater mindfulness.

The next time you feel the need for a walk—whether it’s a quick trip around the block or a lengthy stroll through a pretty, scenic spot—make it a mindful nature walk.

It’s pretty simple to make any walk a mindful walk ; all you need to do is engage all your senses and stay aware of what’s happening both around you and within you.

Be intentional with your awareness; notice your feet hitting the ground with each step, see everything there is to see around you, open your ears to all the sounds surrounding you, feel each inhale and exhale, and just generally be aware of what is happening in each moment.

This exercise helps you not only connect to your authentic self, but it also helps connect you to your environment and improves your awareness of the beauty that’s all around, just waiting to be found. Add these benefits to the known benefits of walking regularly—lowered stress, better heart health, and improved mood—and you have one handy exercise!

Conduct a mindful review of your day

It can be easy to get tired and worn out by the end of the day and let things slip. To help you keep that mindful tone at the end of the day, try this exercise.

Towards the end of your day, perhaps after you finish all of your “must-dos” for the day or right before heading off to bed, take a few minutes to do a review of your day (Scott, n.d.).

Think back to the start of the day and remember your mindfulness exercise that kicked it all off. Think about how it made you feel.

Think through the rest of your day, being sure to note any particularly mindful moments or memorable events. Take stock of your mood as you moved through your daily routine.

If you want to keep track of your progress towards greater mindfulness, it’s a great idea to write all of this down in a journal or a diary; however, the point is to give yourself yet another opportunity to be mindful and end your day on the right note.

Any meditation will do, but there are some meditation practices geared specifically towards present moment awareness.

To give this meditation a try, follow these simple steps:

• Set aside a regular block of time during your day (e.g., 5 minutes first thing in the morning or before you go to bed).
• Get in a comfortable position—but not too comfortable! You don’t want to fall asleep when you’re trying to meditate. Sitting upright may be the best posture.
• Set up an “inner gatekeeper” to control what comes in and what must stay out of the mind. Instruct the gatekeeper to keep out any thoughts of the past or the future for the rest of your current practice.
• Repeat this phrase silently to yourself three times: “ Now is the time to be aware of the present moment. I let go of the past and the future .”
• Turn your attention towards the sounds you hear. Allow them to wash over you and focus only on the current sound you are hearing, not the one you just heard or any sound you may hear next.
• Focus on your bodily sensations: your arms resting on the arms of a chair or on your lap, your legs on the chair or folded up underneath you, the feel of your clothing on your skin, any pain or muscle aches, any twitches or flutterings, and any other sensations you might be feeling.
• Turn your focus to the thoughts going through your head. Observe them as they enter your mind, swirl around your consciousness, then exit your mind. Let each thought pass, labeling them as they go (e.g., “hurt” or “happy”) and keeping your mind open for the next thought to arise.
• Finally, focus on your breathing. Notice your natural breathing pattern and take note of how your chest rises and falls with each breath (Henshaw, 2013).

Although mindfulness meditation is a pretty broad catch-all term for the types of techniques that help you be more mindful and more committed to the present moment, there are some specific kinds of mindful meditations that you can try.

These kinds include:

• Basic mindfulness meditation : focusing on your breathing, a word, or a mantra and allowing thoughts to come and go without judgment.
• Body sensations: being aware of bodily sensations like itching, tingling, soreness, or a tickling sensation and accepting them without judgment, then letting them pass.
• Sensory: being aware of what you are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching without judgment, then labeling them and letting the sensations pass.
• Emotions: allowing emotions to be present in yourself without judging or trying to neutralize them; practicing the naming/labeling of the emotions and allowing them to arise and letting them go just as easily.
• Urge surfing: coping with cravings by accepting them without judgment, noticing how you feel as they hit, and reminding yourself that they will pass (HelpGuide, n.d.).

A Look at Present Moment Psychotherapy

If you find yourself struggling to use these techniques or implement these tools and tricks, and/or if you are dealing with a diagnosed mental disorder like depression, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, present moment psychotherapy may be just what you need.

Present moment psychotherapy is like any other type of therapy, but it adds a twist with its focus on present moment awareness.

As therapist and founder of Present Moment Psychotherapy & Coaching Adrienne Glasser states, present moment psychotherapy is about “regulating our nervous system through an integration of traditional therapeutic modalities with modern, experiential modalities and meditation” (n.d.).

You may find this focus on being present and mindful to be a powerful complement to traditional, evidence-based methods of treatment.

6 Recommended YouTube Videos

To get a quick, comprehensive explanation of living in the present, learn about why living in the present is so good for you, or get some guidance on being present and mindful, give these YouTube videos a try:

The Present Moment – Alan Watts Wisdom from The Motiv8

Sam Harris – It Is Always Now from AJ Salas

Want to be happier? Stay in the Moment – Matt Killingsworth from TED

Surrender Yourself to the Present Moment – Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh from plumvillageonline

Oprah & Eckhart Tolle – Living in the Present Moment from Fearless Soul

Here’s a Simple, Proven Way to Live in the Moment from Mel Robbins

If you’re interested in learning more about the present moment or getting some extra tips and tricks on cultivating mindfulness, check out these books:

• Present Moment Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living by Thich Nhat Hanh ( Amazon )
• A Guide to the Present Moment by Noah Elkrief ( Amazon )
• You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh ( Amazon )
• 10-Minute Mindfulness: 71 Habits for Living in the Present Moment by S. J. Scott and Barrie Davenport ( Amazon )
• Present Moment Awareness: A Simple, Step-by-Step Guide to Living in the Now by Shannon Duncan ( Amazon )
• The Present Moment: 365 Daily Affirmations by Louise Hay ( Amazon )
• How to Live in the Present Moment, Version 2.0 – Let Go of the Past and Stop Worrying About the Future by Matt Morris and Shah Faisal Ahmad ( Amazon )

You can also check out our comprehensive list of the top 50 mindfulness books .

Top 17 Exercises for Mindfulness & Meditation

Use these 17 Mindfulness & Meditation Exercises [PDF] to help others build life-changing habits and enhance their wellbeing with the physical and psychological benefits of mindfulness.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

For a great list of quotes on living in the present moment, check out this piece from Habits for Wellbeing. Their 20 quotes include:

Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

Mindfulness isn’t difficult, we just need to remember to do it.

Sharon Salzberg

Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry—all forms of fear—are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.

Eckhart Tolle

You’ll seldom experience regret for anything that you’ve done. It is what you haven’t done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear. Do it! Develop an appreciation for the present moment. Seize every second of your life and savor it. Value your present moments. Using them up in any self-defeating ways means you’ve lost them forever.

The next message you need is always right where you are.

When you are here and now, sitting totally, not jumping ahead, the miracle has happened. To be in the moment is the miracle.

The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with what is. When the mind is perfectly clear, “what is” is what we want.

Byron Katie

The only time you ever have in which to learn anything or see anything or feel anything, or express any feeling or emotion, or respond to an event, or grow, or heal, is this moment, because this is the only moment any of us ever gets. You’re only here now; you’re only alive in this moment.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

Remember then: there is only one time that is important—now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power.

Leo Tolstoy

Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.

The meeting of two eternities, the past and the future… is precisely the present moment.

Henry David Thoreau

The more I give myself permission to live in the moment and enjoy it without feeling guilty or judgmental about any other time, the better I feel about the quality of my work.

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.

What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.

Living in the present moment means letting go of the past and not waiting for the future. It means living your life consciously, aware that each moment you breathe is a gift.

Oprah Winfrey

The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.

Abraham Maslow

Past and future are in the mind only—I am now.

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

When you have an intense contact of love with nature or another human being, like a spark, then you understand that there is no time and that everything is eternal.

Paulo Coelho

I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this piece and learned something that you can apply in your own life to help you cultivate a better sense of mindfulness.

If you take just one thing home from reading this piece, make sure that it’s this: being mindful is extremely easy! Yes, it takes work and effort to create a sustained mindfulness practice, but it’s incredibly easy to take a pause and be mindful at any random moment throughout the day—like right now!

If you don’t have the time or the energy for any of the more involved exercises right now, that’s okay. Simply stop a few times a day and take a mindful moment. The more you do it, the better you’ll get at being mindful, and soon it will be second nature to you.

What are your thoughts on living in the present? Do you have any tips or tricks to share? What do you find are the most impactful benefits of living in the present? Let us know in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Mindfulness Exercises for free .

• Becker, M. W., Alzahabi, R., & Hopwood, C. J. (2013). Media multitasking is associated with symptoms of depression and social anxiety. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(2) , 132-135.
• Bielkus, S. (2012). The present moment: Where the body meets the mind in yoga class. Health Yoga Life. Retrieved from https://healthyogalife.com/the-present-moment-where-the-body-meets-the-mind-in-yoga-class-by-aida-bielkus/
• Cameron, J. (n.d.). Morning pages. Live the Artist’s Way. Retrieved from https://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/
• Dixit, J. (2008). The art of now: Six steps to living in the moment. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200811/the-art-now-six-steps-living-in-the-moment
• Glasser, A. (n.d.). Present moment psychotherapy: About. Present Moment Psychotherapy & Coaching. Retrieved from http://www.presentmomentpsychotherapy.com/about/
• Halliwell, E. (2017). The science and practice of staying present through difficult times. Mindful. Retrieved from https://www.mindful.org/science-practice-staying-present-difficult-times/
• HelpGuide. (n.d.). Benefits of mindfulness. HelpGuide.org. Retrieved from https://www.helpguide.org/harvard/benefits-of-mindfulness.htm
• Henshaw, S. (2013). How to do present moment awareness meditation. Psych Central. Retrieved from https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-to-do-present-moment-awareness-meditation/
• Junco, R., & Cotten, S. R. (2011). A decade of distraction? How multitasking affects student outcomes. How Multitasking Affects Student Outcomes. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1927049
• Mark, G., Gudith, D., & Klocke, U. (2008). The cost of interrupted work: more speed and stress . In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 107-110).
• Ophir, E., Nass, C., & Wagner, A. (2009). Cognitive control in media multitaskers. Proceedings of the National Association of Sciences, 106 , 15583–15587.
• Puddicombe, A. (2015). How do you live in the moment and plan for the future? Headspace. Retrieved from https://www.headspace.com/blog/2015/05/07/thinking-about-the-future/
• Rideout, V. J., Foehr, U. G., & Roberts, D. F. (2010). Generation M 2: Media in the Lives of 8-to 18-Year-Olds . Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
• Scott, S. J. (n.d.). 71 mindfulness exercises for living in the present moment. Develop Good Habits. Retrieved from https://www.developgoodhabits.com/mindfulness-exercises/
• Thum, M. (2008). What is the present moment? Myrko Thum. Retrieved from http://www.myrkothum.com/what-is-the-present-moment/
• Tlalka, S. (2017). Why it’s hard to live in the present moment. Mindful . Retrieved from https://www.mindful.org/hard-live-present-moment/
• Wokeley, K. (2014). Being present. Yoga Mindset. Retrieved from http://yogamindset.com/meditation/being-present/

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Living in the Moment

Living in the MomentEnjoying life to its fullest seems to be a dream and/or a goal that most people, if not all, wants to have. Yet such dream stays elusive as long as it is being planned or thought about.

Life is too long, too short, too simple, too complicated, too problematic, too boring; depending on the person and the situation he/she is in. Perhaps living transcends reality; perhaps living is comprised of dreams and successes. One cannot pinpoint directly what and how life should be lived. For life is filled with uncertainties and responsibilities.

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In reality, people live for their future, for their past. However, in a stage of life called childhood, a person seems to be taken away by imagination and fantasy that they live without fear and/or worries about the past and the future. In childhood, people find themselves lost in that particular moment, living in the moment.In the readings Child’s Play by Robert Louis Stevenson and Reveries of a Solitary Walker by Jean Jacques Rousseau the discussion of how people live in the moment are discussed.

The two books open up with the comparison between Children and Adult life, about the young and the old. It primarily discusses the differences as well as their concerns, problems and imaginations. These readings provide a glimpse on the views of the authors about life as they move towards its sunset.Child’s Play by R.

L. Stevenson talks about the act of playing as a description of ‘living in the moment’ for it is in such stance that children does not care about responsibilities, past, and future, all they think about is that single moment and all they live about is in that moment. Stevenson tries to encapsulate ‘the regrets we have for childhood’ as something unjustifiable. Such regrets includes playing, for Stevenson believes that the man of his age cannot indulge in such carefree plays that children enjoys.

It is in plays that Stevenson equates ‘living in the moment’. Indeed adult people are still capable of playing but they do s in exchange of doing something else, like their work, cooking, and looking after their child. In old age, play is something that is hard to do. Aside from physical limitations, old mind does not have the same stamina and dexterity to fuel imagination as much as children do.

Old people already know so much about reality to dispose them in the back of their minds.In the ‘Reveries of a Solitary Walker, Rousseau describes his personal sentiments with regards to and in connection with his experiences. Rousseau traces back his life and his experiences to glance on how his life turns out to be. Nonetheless, childhood memories is Rousseau’s case does not bring back the experiences.

In his Reveries, particularly in the second walk, he described an instance when a dog knocked him unconscious. It is in that moment when he regained consciousness that he found ‘delight’, for he ‘remembers nothing’ and such feeling is somehow equivalent to a person being born. Regaining his consciousness, he remembers ‘neither his identity nor his sensations’. He describes the feeling as ‘calmness’ which he can ‘compare nothing with in all the pleasures that stirs up our lives’.

This experience is almost the same experience that one posse during childhood. An experience that does not include worries, pain even identity. There is nothing to think about, free of responsibilities, free from pain.In view of this, I believe that it is really important for people to live in the moment.

‘Living in the moment’ in my opinion means that the person is totally engulf by that certain experience. It is a moment in which the person does not care about anything else aside from experiencing the moment. It is living in the present without any connection to the past or the future. It is about creating memories without reason without motives and with no known purpose.

To live in the moment makes people show their genuine emotions, thoughts and actions. To express fear and resentment or regrets creates an incomplete attention to the moment that takes the person away from the actual experience into a realm of worries and agony. Such ‘living in the moment’ incidents as described by both Stevenson and Rousseau are instances that people recalls. However anyone can in live in the moment even he/she is not a child or he/she does not loss consciousness and memory.

Everyday one can live as if he/she is not doing it for a past or a future. Trivialities in life makes living in the moment happen. For instance when one is doing work, perhaps typing; if he/she would not think about worries and will be completely absorbed by what he is doing and enjoying every second of it, he/she is living in the moment of typing.To live in the moment is to be able to capture the moment in its entirety.

This is something that cannot be done when someone is worrying, for example about a debt that he/she needs to pay next week. The person is living for next week and what will happen next week. The same with living in the past, if one cannot accept a fact that happened in the past and is continuously mourning or crying over what had happened then that person is living for his past. This attitude makes one forget about the current state or the present.

It takes away every minute of his life; it includes the time he/she spent in worrying or regretting over something that is uncertain or cannot be amended. Work Cited:Kass, L. Being Human Core Readings in the Humanities. University of Chicago.2004.

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‘A step back in time': America’s Catholic Church sees an immense shift toward the old ways

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — It was the music that changed first. Or maybe that’s just when many people at the pale brick Catholic church in the quiet Wisconsin neighborhood finally began to realize what was happening.

The choir director, a fixture at St. Maria Goretti for nearly 40 years, was suddenly gone. Contemporary hymns were replaced by music rooted in medieval Europe.

So much was changing. Sermons were focusing more on sin and confession. Priests were rarely seen without cassocks. Altar girls, for a time, were banned.

At the parish elementary school, students began hearing about abortion and hell.

“It was like a step back in time,” said one former parishioner, still so dazed by the tumultuous changes that began in 2021 with a new pastor that he only spoke on condition of anonymity.

It’s not just St. Maria Goretti.

Brothers Leven Barton, left, Florian Rumpza, center, and Angelus Atkinson, sing in Latin during Catholic Mass at Benedictine College, Dec. 3, 2023, in Atchison, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Across the U.S., the Catholic Church is undergoing an immense shift. Generations of Catholics who embraced the modernizing tide sparked in the 1960s by Vatican II are increasingly giving way to religious conservatives who believe the church has been twisted by change, with the promise of eternal salvation replaced by guitar Masses, parish food pantries and casual indifference to church doctrine.

The shift, molded by plummeting church attendance, increasingly traditional priests and growing numbers of young Catholics searching for more orthodoxy, has reshaped parishes across the country, leaving them sometimes at odds with Pope Francis and much of the Catholic world.

The changes are not happening everywhere. There are still plenty of liberal parishes, plenty that see themselves as middle-of-the-road. Despite their growing influence, conservative Catholics remain a minority.

Yet the changes they have brought are impossible to miss.

Generations of U.S. Catholics are giving way to religious conservatives who believe the church has been twisted by change. It has reshaped parishes and universities across the country, leaving them sometimes at odds with much of the Catholic world. (AP Video/ Jessie Wardarski)

The progressive priests who dominated the U.S. church in the years after Vatican II are now in their 70s and 80s. Many are retired. Some are dead. Younger priests, surveys show, are far more conservative.

“They say they’re trying to restore what us old guys ruined,” said the Rev. John Forliti, 87, a retired Twin Cities priest who fought for civil rights and reforms in Catholic school sex education.

Doug Koesel, an outspoken 72-year-old priest at Blessed Trinity Parish in Cleveland, was blunter: “They’re just waiting for us to die.”

At St. Maria Goretti, once steeped in the ethos of Vatican II, many parishioners saw the changes as a requiem.

“I don’t want my daughter to be Catholic,” said Christine Hammond, whose family left the parish when the new outlook spilled into the church’s school and her daughter’s classroom. “Not if this is the Roman Catholic Church that is coming.”

But this is not a simple story. Because there are many who welcome this new, old church.

They often stand out in the pews, with the men in ties and the women sometimes with the lace head coverings that all but disappeared from American churches more than 50 years ago. Often, at least a couple families will arrive with four, five or even more children, signaling their adherence to the church’s ban on contraception, which most American Catholics have long casually ignored.

They attend confession regularly and adhere strictly to church teachings. Many yearn for Masses that echo with medieval traditions – more Latin, more incense more Gregorian chants.

“We want this ethereal experience that is different from everything else in our lives,” said Ben Rouleau, who until recently led St. Maria Goretti’s young adult group, which saw membership skyrocket even as the parish shrank amid the turmoil.

They are, Rouleau said, happily out of touch with a liberal city like Madison.

“It’s radical in some ways,” Rouleau said. “We’re returning to the roots of the church.”

A woman and child kneel during Catholic Mass at Benedictine College, Oct. 29, 2023, in Atchison, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

If this movement emerged from anywhere, it might be a now-demolished Denver football stadium and a borrowed military helicopter carrying in Pope John Paul II .

Some 500,000 people descended on Denver in 1993 for the Catholic festival World Youth Day. When the pope’s helicopter landed just outside Mile High Stadium, the ground shook from the stomping.

The pope, whose grandfatherly appearance belied an electric charisma, and who was beloved both for his kindness and his sternness, confronted an American church shaped by three decades of progressive change.

If the church is often best known to non-Catholics for its opposition to abortion, it had grown increasingly liberal since Vatican II. Birth control was quietly accepted in many parishes, and confession barely mentioned. Catholic social teaching on poverty suffused churches. Most priests traded in their cassocks for plain black shirts with Roman collars. Incense and Latin became increasingly rare.

On some issues, John Paul II agreed with these liberal-minded Catholics. He spoke against capital punishment and pushed for workers’ rights. He preached relentlessly about forgiveness – “the oxygen that purifies the air of hatred.” He forgave his own would-be assassin.

But he was also uncompromising on dogma, warning about change and cracking down on liberal theologians. He urged a return to forgotten rituals.

Catholics “are in danger of losing their faith,” he told crowds at the final Denver Mass, decrying abortion, drug abuse, and what he called “sexual disorders,” a barely veiled reference to growing acceptance of gay rights.

Across the nation, fervent young Catholics listened.

Newman Centers, which serve Catholic university students, became increasingly popular. So did FOCUS, a traditionalist organization working on American college campuses. Conservative Catholic media grew, particularly the cable TV network EWTN, a prominent voice for increased orthodoxy.

Today, conservative Catholic America has its own constellation of online celebrities aimed at young people. There’s Sister Miriam James, an ever-smiling nun in full habit who talks openly about her hard-partying college days. There’s Jackie Francois Angel, who speaks in shockingly frank detail about sex, marriage and Catholicism. There’s Mike Schmitz, a movie-star handsome Minnesota priest who exudes kindness while insisting on doctrine.

Even today, surveys show most American Catholics are far from orthodox. Most support abortion rights. The vast majority use birth control.

But increasingly, those Catholics are not in church.

In 1970, more than half of America’s Catholics said they went to Mass at least once a week. By 2022, that had fallen to 17%, according to CARA, a research center affiliated with Georgetown University. Among millennials, the number is just 9%.

Even as the U.S. Catholic population has jumped to more than 70 million, driven in part by immigration from Latin America, ever-fewer Catholics are involved in the church’s most important rites. Infant baptisms have fallen from 1.2 million in 1965 to 440,000 in 2021, CARA says. Catholic marriages have dropped by well over two-thirds.

The shrinking numbers mean that those who remain in the church have outsized influence compared with the overall Catholic population.

On the national level, conservatives increasingly dominate the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference and the Catholic intellectual world. They include everyone from the philanthropist founder of Domino’s Pizza to six of the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices.

Then there’s the priesthood.

Young priests driven by liberal politics and progressive theology, so common in the 1960s and 70s, have “all but vanished,” said a 2023 report from The Catholic Project at Catholic University, based on a survey of more than 3,500 priests.

Today’s young priests are far more likely to believe that the church changed too much after Vatican II, tangling itself up in America’s rapidly shifting views on everything from women’s roles to LGBTQ people.

“There really aren’t very many liberals in the seminaries anymore,” said a young, recently ordained Midwestern priest. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the turmoil that engulfed his parish after he began pressing for more orthodox services. “They wouldn’t feel comfortable.”

Students leave after attending a Catholic Mass at Benedictine College, Dec. 3, 2023, in Atchison, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Sometimes, the shift toward orthodoxy happens slowly. Maybe there’s a little more Latin sprinkled into Mass, or an occasional reminder to go to confession. Maybe guitars are relegated to Saturday evening services, or dropped completely.

And sometimes the changes come like a whirlwind, dividing parishes between those thirsting for a more reverent Catholicism and those who feel their spiritual home has been taken from them.

“You’d leave Mass thinking, ‘Holy cow! What just happened?’” said another ex-parishioner at St. Maria Goretti, whose family eventually left the church, describing the 2021 promotion of a new pastor, and a sudden focus on sin and confession.

Like many former parishioners, he spoke only on condition of anonymity, worried about upsetting friends still at the church. Diocesan clergy did not respond to requests for interviews.

“I’m a lifelong Catholic. I grew up going to church every Sunday,” he said. “But I’d never seen anything like this.”

The new outlook has spilled across America.

In churches from Minnesota to California, parishioners have protested changes introduced by new conservative priests. In Cincinnati, it came when the new priest abandoned gospel music and African drumming. In small-town North Carolina, it was an intense focus on Latin. In east Texas, it was a right-wing bishop forced out by the Vatican after accusing Pope Francis of undermining church teachings.

Each can seem like one more skirmish in the cultural and political battles tearing at America.

But the movement, whether called conservative or orthodox or traditionalist or authentic, can be hard to define.

Rev. Gabriel Landis officiates a Catholic Mass at Benedictine College, Dec. 3, 2023, in Atchison, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

It ranges from Catholics who want more incense, to Latin Mass adherents who have brought back ancient prayers that mention “the perfidious Jew.” There are right-wing survivalists, celebrity exorcists, environmentalists and a handful of quasi-socialists.

There’s the Catholic news outlet railing against the Vatican’s “wicked entourage,” and the small-town Wisconsin priest who traces COVID-19 to a century-old prophecy and warns of looming dictatorship. There’s the recent “Catholic Prayer for Trump,” a $1,000-a-plate dinner at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort, featuring a string of conspiracy theorists.

Yet the orthodox movement can also seem like a tangle of forgiveness and rigidity, where insistence on mercy and kindness mingle with warnings of eternity in hell.

Looming over the American divide is Pope Francis , who has pushed the global church to be more inclusive , even as he toes the line on most dogma .

The orthodox movement has watched him nervously from the first days of his papacy, angered by his more liberal views on issues like gay relationships and divorce . Some reject him entirely.

And the pope clearly worries about America.

The U.S. church has “a very strong reactionary attitude,” he told a group of Jesuits last year. “Being backward-looking is useless.”

Pope Francis waves to the crowd during a parade, Sept. 26, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, Pool, File)

You can find this new vision of Catholic America at Latin Masses in Milwaukee, the pews crowded with worshippers even at noon on a weekday. It’s in conferences held in California wine country, at reinvigorated parishes in Tennessee and prayer groups in Washington, D.C.

And it’s at a little Kansas college built high on a bluff above the Missouri River.

At first glance, nothing seems unusual about Benedictine College.

Students worry about unfinished essays and the complexities of dating. They wear cutoff shorts on warm autumn afternoons. Football is huge. The cafeteria food is mediocre.

But look deeper.

Because at Benedictine, Catholic teaching on contraception can slip into lessons on Plato, and no one is surprised if you volunteer for 3 a.m. prayers. Pornography, pre-marital sex and sunbathing in swimsuits are forbidden.

If these rules seem like precepts of a bygone age, that hasn’t stopped students from flocking to Benedictine and other conservative Catholic colleges.

At a time when U.S. college enrollment is shrinking, Benedictine’s expansion over the last 15 years has included four new residence halls, a new dining hall and an academic center. An immense new library is being built. The roar of construction equipment never seems to stop.

Enrollment, now about 2,200, has doubled in 20 years.

Students, many of whom grew up in conservative Catholic families, jokingly call it “the Benedictine bubble.” And it might be a window into the future of the Catholic Church in America.

In a deeply secular America, where an ever-churning culture provides few absolute answers, Benedictine offers the reassurance of clarity.

“We don’t all agree on everything, obviously,” said John Welte, a senior majoring in economics and philosophy. “But I would say everyone has an understanding of, like, truth.”

“There are certain things you can just know in your mind: This is right, and this is wrong.”

Sometimes, people here quietly admit, it goes too far. Like the students who loudly proclaim how often they go to Mass, or the young man who quit his classics course because he refused to read the works of ancient Greek pagans.

Very often, talk here echoes the 13th-century writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, who believed God could be found in truth, goodness and beauty. Sometimes, they say, that means finding God in strict tenets about sexuality. Sometimes in the haunting beauty of Gregorian chants.

“It’s a renewal of, like, some really, really good things that we might have lost,” said Madeline Hays, a pensive 22-year-old senior biology major.

Benedictine College students, from left, Madeline Hays, Niki Wood, Ashley Lestone and Hannah Moore gather for evening prayers in a room which they converted to a chapel in the house they share, Dec. 3, 2023, in Atchison, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

She takes the church’s rules seriously, from pre-marital sex to confession. She can’t stand modern church architecture. She’s seriously considering becoming a nun.

But she also worries about poverty and America’s wastefulness and the way Americans –including herself – can find themselves slotted into the political divide without even knowing it.

She wrestles with her belief in an unerring Catholic doctrine that can see good people, including some of her own friends, as sinners.

Yet she doesn’t want change.

“The church wouldn’t be the church if it changed things it had set down as, ‘This is infallible doctrine and this will not change through the ages,’” she said.

They understand that in Benedictine’s small, mostly closeted gay community. Like the young man, once deeply religious, who suffers in silence as people on campus casually throw around anti-gay slurs.

He’s thought many times of leaving, but generous financial aid keeps him here. And after many years, he’s accepted his sexuality.

He’s seen the joy that people can get from Benedictine, how some will move back to Atchison after graduation, just to stay close.

But not him.

“I don’t think I’ll come back to Atchison – not ever.”

St. Maria Goretti parishoner Anna Buss, 10, pauses in front of a shrine to Pope John Paul II before Mass, April 2, 2005, in Madison, Wis. (John Maniaci/Wisconsin State Journal via AP, File)

For decades, the pews at St. Maria Goretti were filled with the families of plumbers, engineers and professors from the University of Wisconsin, just a couple miles up the road. The church is a well-kept island of Catholicism tucked into the leafy residential streets of one of America’s most liberal cities.

Like so many other parishes, it had been shaped by the ideals of the 1960s and 1970s. Poverty and social justice became tightly interwoven with sermons and parish life. Gay people felt welcome. Some of the church’s moral absolutes, like the contraception ban, became forgotten dogma.

Change arrived in 2003 with a new bishop, Robert C. Morlino, an outspoken conservative. Many liberals remember him as the man who lambasted the message of acceptance in the modern hymn, “All Are Welcome.”

His successor, Bishop Donald J. Hying, steers clear of public battles. But in many ways, he quietly carries on Morlino’s legacy, warning about “the tangled thinking of Modernism.”

In 2021, Hying named the Rev. Scott Emerson, a onetime top Morlino aide, as pastor of the Madison church.

Parishioners watched - some pleased, some uneasily - as their spiritual home was remodeled.

There was more incense, more Latin, more talk of sin and confession.

Emerson’s sermons are not all fire-and-brimstone. He speaks often about forgiveness and compassion. But his tone shocked many longtime parishioners.

Protection is needed, he said in a 2023 service, from “the spiritual corruption of worldly vices.” He has warned against critics – “the atheists, journalists, politicians, the fallen-away Catholics” – he said were undermining the church.

For some, Emerson’s changes were welcome.

A man prays during Catholic Mass at Benedictine College, Oct. 29, 2023, in Atchison, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

“A lot of us were like, ’Hey, more confession! Sweet!” said Rouleau, who ran the parish young adult group. “Better music!”

But the parish – which in mid-2023 became part of a two-church “pastorate” amid a diocese-wide restructuring - was shrinking fast.

For decades, many traditional Catholics have wondered if the church would – and perhaps should – shrink to a smaller but more faithful core.

In ways, that’s how St. Maria Goretti looks today. The 6:30 a.m. Friday Mass, Rouleau says, is increasingly popular among young people. But once-packed Sunday Masses now have empty pews. Donations are down. School enrollment plunged.

Some who left have gone to more liberal parishes. Some joined Protestant churches. Some abandoned religion entirely.

“I’m not a Catholic anymore,” said Hammond, the woman who left when the church’s school began to change. “Not even a little bit.”

But Emerson insists the Catholic Church’s critics will be proven wrong.

“How many have laughed at the church, announcing that she was passe, that her days were over and that they would bury her?” he said in a 2021 Mass.

“The church,” he said, “has buried every one of her undertakers.”

Associated Press journalist Jessie Wardarski contributed to this report.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness and being present in the moment, being mindful can increase mental and emotional well-being..

Posted January 7, 2018 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

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Have you ever heard the saying “don’t let the future steal your present?” This statement is very powerful. Many of us could benefit from following this mantra as it teaches the importance of mindfulness .

If you have never heard of mindfulness before, it is the practice of being present in the moment (it is also the core of meditation practices and something one must master in order to become truly skilled at meditation).

I work on teaching many of my patients how to be more mindful, which inherently means learning and practicing how to be (more) present in the moment. The benefits of this type of mental lifestyle are plentiful. Those who live in the moment tend to be happier, calmer and more relaxed, and appreciative. Mindfulness can also increase your ability to be in tune with your thoughts, emotions, and body sensations, which allows you to work with these human factors and communicate how you are thinking and feeling to both yourself and others.

I often tell my patients that depression lives in the past and anxiety lives in the future. Alternately, calmness and peace of mind live in the present.

One of the treatments that I frequently use in my work with patients, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), really focuses on mindfulness as one of its key components. Mindfulness is included for multiple reasons, including increasing self-awareness and learning how to be focused and fulfilled in the moment. In fact, one of the premises taught in this treatment under the mindfulness approach is about letting your mind steal time from you.

Your mind may be stealing your time

What does this mean? Well, have you ever been on a vacation or doing something you really enjoy but had the thought “I don’t want this to be over” or “this is so fun but soon it will be Monday and I’ll be back at work.” This type of thinking only allows your mind to steal away your precious time. And in reality, the time will naturally pass and exciting, joyous occasions will naturally come to a close. So don’t feel as though you have to perceptively speed up that process!

When you have thoughts like these, rather than being in the moment and enjoying what you are doing, you are focused on when it will come to an end. This type of thinking (non-mindfulness) will take away from you being in the moment and does not allow you to get as much as you can out of the experience. After all, part of the excitement is the build-up to getting there.

Another example of this is when you have something very exciting approaching — perhaps a trip, your wedding, a reunion, or a big party. Let’s run with this example for a moment: You may be so excited about the trip that all you "can” do is think about and plan for it. However, by thinking this way, you are essentially wishing away the time between now and the trip, which is going to pass anyhow (because that is what time does). Then, before you know it, you are on the trip, and then, it is over.

A better approach to savor the upcoming excitement of the trip is to literally do that: to be present in the moment including the time leading up to it, and not to wish away the time until you get there.

The excitement of awaiting something out of the ordinary or special is easily understood, but by focusing so heavily on what’s to come, you miss out on what’s in front of you. And for something big that’s approaching, this usually means that you wish away the present time rather than savoring the excitement leading up to the big event. Then, before you know it, the trip has arrived, you have the experience, and then it ends and is in the past.

By being present in the moment (and savoring the time leading up to it), you obtain a higher level of satisfaction, allow yourself to have a better experience, and feel more fulfilled as the event has not come and gone as quickly.

Everyday application of mindfulness

A trip or other infrequent occasions are good examples of the benefits to being present in the moment, but the approach of being present in the moment can also be applied in everyday life.

Time is a precious commodity. Don’t mentally rush through it or wish it away. Savor the moments, even those of boredom . They, too, will pass.

And even in those slower moments of life, being present in the moment will increase your appreciation and relaxation in them, as opposed to anxiety or depression if your mind is focused elsewhere in time.

Elyssa Barbash, Ph.D. , LMHC is a licensed psychologist and licensed mental health counselor. She is a leading authority on psychological trauma and PTSD, and the CEO of Tampa Therapy located in Florida.

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How we met: ‘From the first moment I felt a sense of happiness’

Anna, 36, and Les, 32, met in Kyiv in 2016. Now based in Vienna, they hope to return to Ukraine Tell us your story of how you met someone special

G rowing up in Lviv in western Ukraine , Les was never drawn to the capital, Kyiv. “It was too loud and busy compared with where I’m from,” he says. But in 2016, while working as an artist, he decided to host an exhibition there to gain more exposure. “I was working as a videographer to make money, and as a painter. I wanted to showcase my collection of animal paintings.”

He joined a local social network to advertise his exhibition. That’s where he met Anna, who was based in Kyiv. “I was working seven days a week, doing admin during the week and working for a beauty salon at the weekends,” she says. She was also busy looking after her five-year-old daughter. “I joined the site to find people to have small talk with, because I had no time for meeting anyone.”

She was intrigued by Les’s photo on the site. “He was wearing this big black hat and looked very creative. I told him I liked the hat and that started our conversation.” They hit it off straight away. “It was as though we’d known each other all our lives. He is so intelligent but he was always laughing at my jokes, too.” They began exchanging small letters and gifts in the post, before arranging to meet six weeks later at a cafe near to where Anna lived.

“It was very exciting and, from the first moment, I felt a sense of happiness,” says Les. “We talked about our jobs, our dreams and just about everything else.” Anna brought her daughter, Maria, along too, and she was immediately smitten with Les. “He brought her art supplies and she’s still painting all the time now,” says Anna. “I really liked him. I’d had bad experiences before, so it was hard to believe it was real and I’d met someone so kind.”

Les says he knew from the moment they met that he wanted to build a life with Anna. “I loved her smile and the way she made me laugh,” he says. “I had this feeling that she was right for me, like I’d finally met my muse.” Two weeks later, he returned to Kyiv and decided to stay.

The pair shared a passion for travel, with Les hosting art exhibitions all over the world. “We went to cities in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Egypt and Poland,” says Anna. “When we are at home we love cooking together too.”

They married in 2019 and had a son, Leonardo, later that year. They are also expecting a baby this summer.

In early 2022, they bought a home together in Kyiv, but their newfound happiness was soon devastated by the war with Russia. “We tried to live like it was normal, putting on music to try and cover up the sound of the bombs,” says Anna, “but we soon realised we had to leave to get somewhere safer.” They took their children to Lviv, before Anna left for Poland with other family members. At the time, young men were unable to leave the country, so Les stayed behind to help with the war efforts, raising money for the cause through his art sales.

Anna moved to Italy shortly afterwards with the children, but found it impossible to be without her husband. “I felt like I couldn’t breathe without him so I came back to Kyiv with the kids. I felt safer with him in Ukraine than alone in Europe,” she says. When Les was able to travel, they started visiting different parts of Europe and the US to raise money for Ukrainian children through art projects and auctions. They’re now based in Vienna, though they travel to Kyiv for work when they need to. “We really miss our home and want to return, but we can’t go with a newborn,” says Anna. “Sometimes you feel safe and other times it’s being bombed like crazy. One day, though, we will bring our family back.”

Despite the trauma, they are grateful to have each other. “She’s the most valuable person in the world to me,” he says. “She’s the mother of our children and I respect her so much.”

Anna appreciates her partner’s kindness. “I’ve never heard a bad word from him about anyone. He’s such a good person. A lot of people couldn’t face this much stress together, but it’s brought us closer. I couldn’t live without him.”

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A Plan to Remake the Middle East

While talks for a cease-fire between israel and hamas continue, another set of negotiations is happening behind the scenes..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

From New York Times, I’m Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

Today, if and when Israel and Hamas reach a deal for a ceasefire fire, the United States will immediately turn to a different set of negotiations over a grand diplomatic bargain that it believes could rebuild Gaza and remake the Middle East. My colleague Michael Crowley has been reporting on that plan and explains why those involved in it believe they have so little time left to get it done.

It’s Wednesday, May 8.

Michael, I want to start with what feels like a pretty dizzying set of developments in this conflict over the past few days. Just walk us through them?

Well, over the weekend, there was an intense round of negotiations in an effort, backed by the United States, to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza war.

The latest ceasefire proposal would reportedly see as many as 33 Israeli hostages released in exchange for potentially hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

US officials were very eager to get this deal.

Pressure for a ceasefire has been building ahead of a threatened Israeli assault on Rafah.

Because Israel has been threatening a military offensive in the Southern Palestinian city of Rafah, where a huge number of people are crowded.

Fleeing the violence to the North. And now they’re packed into Rafah. Exposed and vulnerable, they need to be protected.

And the US says it would be a humanitarian catastrophe on top of the emergency that’s already underway.

Breaking news this hour — very important breaking news. An official Hamas source has told The BBC that it does accept a proposal for a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

And for a few hours on Monday, it looked like there might have been a major breakthrough when Hamas put out a statement saying that it had accepted a negotiating proposal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the ceasefire proposal does not meet his country’s requirements. But Netanyahu says he will send a delegation of mediators to continue those talks. Now, the terms —

But those hopes were dashed pretty quickly when the Israelis took a look at what Hamas was saying and said that it was not a proposal that they had agreed to. It had been modified.

And overnight —

Israeli troops stormed into Rafah. Video showing tanks crashing over a sign at the entrance of the city.

— the Israelis launched a partial invasion of Rafah.

It says Hamas used the area to launch a deadly attack on Israeli troops over the weekend.

And they have now secured a border crossing at the Southern end of Gaza and are conducting targeted strikes. This is not yet the full scale invasion that President Biden has adamantly warned Israel against undertaking, but it is an escalation by Israel.

So while all that drama might suggest that these talks are in big trouble, these talks are very much still alive and ongoing and there is still a possibility of a ceasefire deal.

And the reason that’s so important is not just to stop the fighting in Gaza and relieve the suffering there, but a ceasefire also opens the door to a grand diplomatic bargain, one that involves Israel and its Arab neighbors and the Palestinians, and would have very far-reaching implications.

And what is that grand bargain. Describe what you’re talking about?

Well, it’s incredibly ambitious. It would reshape Israel’s relationship with its Arab neighbors, principally Saudi Arabia. But it’s important to understand that this is a vision that has actually been around since well before October 7. This was a diplomatic project that President Biden had been investing in and negotiating actually in a very real and tangible way long before the Hamas attacks and the Gaza war.

And President Biden was looking to build on something that President Trump had done, which was a series of agreements that the Trump administration struck in which Israel and some of its Arab neighbors agreed to have normal diplomatic relations for the first time.

Right, they’re called the Abraham Accords.

That’s right. And, you know, Biden doesn’t like a lot of things, most things that Trump did. But he actually likes this, because the idea is that they contribute to stability and economic integration in the Middle East, the US likes Israel having friends and likes having a tight-knit alliance against Iran.

President Biden agrees with the Saudis and with the Israelis, that Iran is really the top threat to everybody here. So, how can you build on this? How can you expand it? Well, the next and biggest step would be normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

And the Saudis have made clear that they want to do this and that they’re ready to do this. They weren’t ready to do it in the Trump years. But Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, has made clear he wants to do it now.

So this kind of triangular deal began to take shape before October 7, in which the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia would enter this three way agreement in which everyone would get something that they wanted.

And just walk through what each side gets in this pre-October 7th version of these negotiations?

So for Israel, you get normalized ties with its most important Arab neighbor and really the country that sets the tone for the whole Muslim world, which is Saudi Arabia of course. It makes Israel feel safer and more secure. Again, it helps to build this alliance against Iran, which Israel considers its greatest threat, and it comes with benefits like economic ties and travel and tourism. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been very open, at least before October 7th, that this was his highest diplomatic and foreign policy priority.

For the Saudis, the rationale is similar when it comes to Israel. They think that it will bring stability. They like having a more explicitly close ally against Iran. There are economic and cultural benefits. Saudi Arabia is opening itself up in general, encouraging more tourism.

But I think that what’s most important to the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is what he can get from the United States. And what he has been asking for are a couple of essential things. One is a security agreement whose details have always been a little bit vague, but I think essentially come down to reliable arms supplies from the United States that are not going to be cut off or paused on a whim, as he felt happened when President Biden stopped arms deliveries in 2021 because of how Saudi was conducting its war in Yemen. The Saudis were furious about that.

Saudi Arabia also wants to start a domestic nuclear power program. They are planning for a very long-term future, possibly a post-oil future. And they need help getting a nuclear program off the ground.

And they want that from the US?

And they want that from the US.

Now, those are big asks from the us. But from the perspective of President Biden, there are some really enticing things about this possible agreement. One is that it will hopefully produce more stability in the region. Again, the US likes having a tight-knit alliance against Iran.

The US also wants to have a strong relationship with Saudi Arabia. You know, despite the anger at Mohammed bin Salman over the murder of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, the Biden administration recognizes that given the Saudis control over global oil production and their strategic importance in the Middle East, they need to have a good relationship with them. And the administration has been worried about the influence of China in the region and with the Saudis in particular.

So this is an opportunity for the US to draw the Saudis closer. Whatever our moral qualms might be about bin Salman and the Saudi government, this is an opportunity to bring the Saudis closer, which is something the Biden administration sees as a strategic benefit.

All three of these countries — big, disparate countries that normally don’t see eye-to-eye, this was a win-win-win on a military, economic, and strategic front.

That’s right. But there was one important actor in the region that did not see itself as winning, and that was the Palestinians.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

First, it’s important to understand that the Palestinians have always expected that the Arab countries in the Middle East would insist that Israel recognize a Palestinian state before those countries were willing to essentially make total peace and have normal relations with Israel.

So when the Abraham Accords happened in the Trump administration, the Palestinians felt like they’d been thrown under the bus because the Abraham Accords gave them virtually nothing. But the Palestinians did still hold out hope that Saudi Arabia would be their savior. And for years, Saudi Arabia has said that Israel must give the Palestinians a state if there’s going to be a normal relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Now the Palestinians see the Saudis in discussions with the US and Israel about a normalization agreement, and there appears to be very little on offer for the Palestinians. And they are feeling like they’re going to be left out in the cold here.

Right. And in the minds of the Palestinians, having already been essentially sold out by all their other Arab neighbors, the prospect that Saudi Arabia, of all countries, the most important Muslim Arab country in the region, would sell them out, had to be extremely painful.

It was a nightmare scenario for them. And in the minds of many analysts and US officials, this was a factor, one of many, in Hamas’s decision to stage the October 7th attacks.

Hamas, like other Palestinian leaders, was seeing the prospect that the Middle East was moving on and essentially, in their view, giving up on the Palestinian cause, and that Israel would be able to have friendly, normal relations with Arab countries around the region, and that it could continue with hardline policies toward the Palestinians and a refusal, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said publicly, to accept a Palestinian state.

Right. So Michael, once Hamas carries out the October 7th attacks in an effort to destroy a status quo that it thinks is leaving them less and less relevant, more and more hopeless, including potentially this prospect that Saudi Arabia is going to normalize relations with Israel, what happens to these pre-October 7th negotiations between the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel?

Well, I think there was a snap assumption that these talks were dead and buried. That they couldn’t possibly survive a cataclysm like this.

But then something surprising happened. It became clear that all the parties were still determined to pull-off the normalization.

And most surprisingly of all, perhaps, was the continued eagerness of Saudi Arabia, which publicly was professing outrage over the Israeli response to the Hamas attacks, but privately was still very much engaged in these conversations and trying to move them forward.

And in fact, what has happened is that the scope of this effort has grown substantially. October 7th didn’t kill these talks. It actually made them bigger, more complicated, and some people would argue, more important than ever.

We’ll be right back.

Michael, walk us through what exactly happens to these three-way negotiations after October 7th that ends up making them, as you just said, more complicated and more important than ever?

Well, it’s more important than ever because of the incredible need in Gaza. And it’s going to take a deal like this and the approval of Saudi Arabia to unlock the kind of massive reconstruction project required to essentially rebuild Gaza from the rubble. Saudi Arabia and its Arab friends are also going to be instrumental in figuring out how Gaza is governed, and they might even provide troops to help secure it. None of those things are going to happen without a deal like this.

Fascinating.

But this is all much more complicated now because the price for a deal like this has gone up.

And by price, you mean?

What Israel would have to give up. [MUSIC PLAYING]

From Saudi Arabia’s perspective, you have an Arab population that is furious at Israel. It now feels like a really hard time to do a normalization deal with the Israelis. It was never going to be easy, but this is about as bad a time to do it as there has been in a generation at least. And I think that President Biden and the people around him understand that the status quo between Israel and the Palestinians is intolerable and it is going to lead to chaos and violence indefinitely.

So now you have two of the three parties to this agreement, the Saudis and the Americans, basically asking a new price after October 7th, and saying to the Israelis, if we’re going to do this deal, it has to not only do something for the Palestinians, it has to do something really big. You have to commit to the creation of a Palestinian state. Now, I’ll be specific and say that what you hear the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, say is that the agreement has to include an irreversible time-bound path to a Palestinian state.

We don’t know exactly what that looks like, but it’s some kind of a firm commitment, the likes of which the world and certainly the Israelis have not made before.

Something that was very much not present in the pre-October 7th vision of this negotiation. So much so that, as we just talked about, the Palestinians were left feeling completely out in the cold and furious at it.

That’s right. There was no sign that people were thinking that ambitiously about the Palestinians in this deal before October 7th. And the Palestinians certainly felt like they weren’t going to get much out of it. And that has completely changed now.

So, Michael, once this big new dimension after October 7th, which is the insistence by Saudi Arabia and the US that there be a Palestinian state or a path to a Palestinian state, what is the reaction specifically from Israel, which is, of course, the third major party to this entire conversation?

Well, Israel, or at least its political leadership, hates it. You know, this is just an extremely tough sell in Israel. It would have been a tough sell before October 7th. It’s even harder now.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is completely unrepentantly open in saying that there’s not going to be a Palestinian state on his watch. He won’t accept it. He says that it’s a strategic risk to his country. He says that it would, in effect, reward Hamas.

His argument is that terrorism has forced a conversation about statehood onto the table that wasn’t there before October 7th. Sure, it’s always in the background. It’s a perennial issue in global affairs, but it was not something certainly that the US and Israel’s Arab neighbors were actively pushing. Netanyahu also has — you know, he governs with the support of very right-wing members of a political coalition that he has cobbled together. And that coalition is quite likely to fall apart if he does embrace a Palestinian state or a path to a Palestinian state.

Now, he might be able to cobble together some sort of alternative, but it creates a political crisis for him.

And finally, you know, I think in any conversation about Israel, it’s worth bearing in mind something you hear from senior US officials these days, which is that although there is often finger pointing at Netanyahu and a desire to blame Netanyahu as this obstructionist who won’t agree to deals, what they say is Netanyahu is largely reflecting his population and the political establishment of his country, not just the right-wingers in his coalition who are clearly extremist.

But actually the prevailing views of the Israeli public. And the Israeli public and their political leaders across the spectrum right now with few exceptions, are not interested in talking about a Palestinian state when there are still dozens and dozens of Israeli hostages in tunnels beneath Gaza.

So it very much looks like this giant agreement that once seemed doable before October 7th might be more important to everyone involved than ever, given that it’s a plan for rebuilding Gaza and potentially preventing future October 7th’s from happening, but because of this higher price that Israel would have to pay, which is the acceptance of a Palestinian state, it seems from everything you’re saying, that this is more and more out of reach than ever before and hard to imagine happening in the immediate future. So if the people negotiating it are being honest, Michael, are they ready to acknowledge that it doesn’t look like this is going to happen?

Well, not quite yet. As time goes by, they certainly say it’s getting harder and harder, but they’re still trying, and they still think there’s a chance. But both the Saudis and the Biden administration understand that there’s very little time left to do this.

Well, what do you mean there’s very little time left? It would seem like time might benefit this negotiation in that it might give Israel distance from October 7th to think potentially differently about a Palestinian state?

Potentially. But Saudi Arabia wants to get this deal done in the Biden administration because Mohammed bin Salman has concluded this has to be done under a Democratic president.

Because Democrats in Congress are going to be very reluctant to approve a security agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

It’s important to understand that if there is a security agreement, that’s something Congress is going to have to approve. And you’re just not going to get enough Democrats in Congress to support a deal with Saudi Arabia, who a lot of Democrats don’t like to begin with, because they see them as human rights abusers.

But if a Democratic president is asking them to do it, they’re much more likely to go along.

Right. So Saudi Arabia fears that if Biden loses and Trump is president, that those same Democrats would balk at this deal in a way that they wouldn’t if it were being negotiated under President Biden?

Exactly. Now, from President Biden’s perspective, politically, think about a president who’s running for re-election, who is presiding right now over chaos in the Middle East, who doesn’t seem to have good answers for the Israeli-Palestinian question, this is an opportunity for President Biden to deliver what could be at least what he would present as a diplomatic masterstroke that does multiple things at once, including creating a new pathway for Israel and the Palestinians to coexist, to break through the logjam, even as he is also improving Israel’s relations with Saudi Arabia.

So Biden and the Crown Prince hope that they can somehow persuade Bibi Netanyahu that in spite of all the reasons that he thinks this is a terrible idea, that this is a bet worth taking on Israel’s and the region’s long-term security and future?

That’s right. Now, no one has explained very clearly exactly how this is going to work, and it’s probably going to require artful diplomacy, possibly even a scenario where the Israelis would agree to something that maybe means one thing to them and means something else to other people. But Biden officials refuse to say that it’s hopeless and they refuse to essentially take Netanyahu’s preliminary no’s for an answer. And they still see some way that they can thread this incredibly narrow needle.

Michael, I’m curious about a constituency that we haven’t been talking about because they’re not at the table in these discussions that we are talking about here. And that would be Hamas. How does Hamas feel about the prospect of such a deal like this ever taking shape. Do they see it as any kind of a victory and vindication for what they did on October 7th?

So it’s hard to know exactly what Hamas’s leadership is thinking. I think they can feel two things. I think they can feel on the one hand, that they have established themselves as the champions of the Palestinian people who struck a blow against Israel and against a diplomatic process that was potentially going to leave the Palestinians out in the cold.

At the same time, Hamas has no interest in the kind of two-state solution that the US is trying to promote. They think Israel should be destroyed. They think the Palestinian state should cover the entire geography of what is now Israel, and they want to lead a state like that. And that’s not something that the US, Saudi Arabia, or anyone else is going to tolerate.

So what Hamas wants is to fight, to be the leader of the Palestinian people, and to destroy Israel. And they’re not interested in any sort of a peace process or statehood process.

It seems very clear from everything you’ve said here that neither Israel nor Hamas is ready to have the conversation about a grand bargain diplomatic program. And I wonder if that inevitably has any bearing on the ceasefire negotiations that are going on right now between the two of them that are supposed to bring this conflict to some sort of an end, even if it’s just temporary?

Because if, as you said, Michael, a ceasefire opens the door to this larger diplomatic solution, and these two players don’t necessarily want that larger diplomatic solution, doesn’t that inevitably impact their enthusiasm for even reaching a ceasefire?

Well, it certainly doesn’t help. You know, this is such a hellish problem. And of course, you first have the question of whether Israel and Hamas can make a deal on these immediate issues, including the hostages, Palestinian prisoners, and what the Israeli military is going to do, how long a ceasefire might last.

But on top of that, you have these much bigger diplomatic questions that are looming over them. And it’s not clear that either side is ready to turn and face those bigger questions.

So while for the Biden administration and for Saudi Arabia, this is a way out of this crisis, these larger diplomatic solutions, it’s not clear that it’s a conversation that the two parties that are actually at war here are prepared to start having.

Well, Michael, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

On Tuesday afternoon, under intense pressure from the US, delegations from Israel and Hamas arrived in Cairo to resume negotiations over a potential ceasefire. But in a statement, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear that even with the talks underway, his government would, quote, “continue to wage war against Hamas.”

Here’s what else you need to know today. In a dramatic day of testimony, Stormy Daniels offered explicit details about an alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump that ultimately led to the hush money payment at the center of his trial. Daniels testified that Trump answered the door in pajamas, that he told her not to worry that he was married, and that he did not use a condom when they had sex.

That prompted lawyers for Trump to seek a mistrial based on what they called prejudicial testimony. But the judge in the case rejected that request. And,

We’ve seen a ferocious surge of anti-Semitism in America and around the world.

In a speech on Tuesday honoring victims of the Holocaust, President Biden condemned what he said was the alarming rise of anti-Semitism in the United States after the October 7th attacks on Israel. And he expressed worry that too many Americans were already forgetting the horrors of that attack.

The Jewish community, I want you to know I see your fear, your hurt, and your pain. Let me reassure you, as your president, you’re not alone. You belong. You always have and you always will.

Today’s episode was produced by Nina Feldman, Clare Toeniskoetter, and Rikki Novetsky. It was edited by Liz O. Baylen, contains original music by Marion Lozano, Elisheba Ittoop, and Dan Powell, and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

That’s it for The Daily. I’m Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.

• May 10, 2024   •   27:42 Stormy Daniels Takes the Stand
• May 9, 2024   •   34:42 One Strongman, One Billion Voters, and the Future of India
• May 8, 2024   •   28:28 A Plan to Remake the Middle East
• May 7, 2024   •   27:43 How Changing Ocean Temperatures Could Upend Life on Earth
• May 6, 2024   •   29:23 R.F.K. Jr.’s Battle to Get on the Ballot
• May 3, 2024   •   25:33 The Protesters and the President
• May 2, 2024   •   29:13 Biden Loosens Up on Weed
• May 1, 2024   •   35:16 The New Abortion Fight Before the Supreme Court
• April 30, 2024   •   27:40 The Secret Push That Could Ban TikTok
• April 29, 2024   •   47:53 Trump 2.0: What a Second Trump Presidency Would Bring
• April 26, 2024   •   21:50 Harvey Weinstein Conviction Thrown Out
• April 25, 2024   •   40:33 The Crackdown on Student Protesters

Hosted by Michael Barbaro

Featuring Michael Crowley

Produced by Nina Feldman ,  Clare Toeniskoetter and Rikki Novetsky

Edited by Liz O. Baylen

Original music by Marion Lozano ,  Elisheba Ittoop and Dan Powell

Engineered by Alyssa Moxley

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

If and when Israel and Hamas reach a deal for a cease-fire, the United States will immediately turn to a different set of negotiations over a grand diplomatic bargain that it believes could rebuild Gaza and remake the Middle East.

Michael Crowley, who covers the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The Times, explains why those involved in this plan believe they have so little time left to get it done.

On today’s episode

Michael Crowley , a reporter covering the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The New York Times.

Background reading :

Talks on a cease-fire in the Gaza war are once again at an uncertain stage .

Here’s how the push for a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia looked before Oct. 7 .

From early in the war, President Biden has said that a lasting resolution requires a “real” Palestinian state .

Here’s what Israeli officials are discussing about postwar Gaza.

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Michael Crowley covers the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The Times. He has reported from nearly three dozen countries and often travels with the secretary of state. More about Michael Crowley

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Here is what Stormy Daniels testified happened between her and Donald Trump

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Porn performer Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday in the hush money case against former President Trump, who looked on as she detailed their alleged sexual encounter and the payment she got to keep it quiet.

Prosecutors allege Trump paid Daniels to keep quiet about the allegations as he ran for president in 2016. Her testimony aired them very publicly as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee seeks to win the White House again.

Trump denies having sex with Daniels , and his lawyers unsuccessfully pushed for a mistrial midway through her testimony.

It was a major spectacle in the first criminal trial of a former American president, now in its third week of testimony in Manhattan.

Here are some takeaways from Daniels’ testimony:

Who is Stormy Daniels?

The case centers on a $130,000 payment to Daniels from Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 campaign. Prosecutors say it was part of a scheme to illegally influence the campaign by burying negative stories about him.

Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump in occasionally graphic testimony

The porn actor’s testimony, even if sanitized and stripped of tell-all details, has been the most-awaited spectacle in Donald Trump’s hush money trial.

May 7, 2024

His lawyers have sought to show that Trump was trying to protect his reputation and family — not his campaign — by shielding them from embarrassing stories about his personal life.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, told jurors that she started exotic dancing in high school and appearing in adult films at age 23, eventually moving to direct more than 150 films and winning a roster of porn industry awards.

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Key players: Who’s who at Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial

Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial shifts to opening statements Monday, followed by the start of witness testimony. Who’s who in the case?

April 21, 2024

Meeting Trump

Daniels testified she first met and chatted with Trump at a 2006 Lake Tahoe celebrity golf outing where her studio was a sponsor.

He referred to her as “the smart one” and asked her if she wanted to go to dinner, she said. Daniels testified that she accepted Trump’s invitation because she wanted to avoid dinner with her co-workers and thought it might help her career. Trump had his bodyguard get her number, she said.

When they met up later in his penthouse, she appreciated that he seemed interested in the business aspects of the industry rather than the “sexy stuff.” He also suggested putting her on his TV show, “The Apprentice,” a possibility she hoped could help establish her as a writer and director.

She left to use the bathroom and was startled to find Trump in his underwear when she returned, she said. She didn’t feel physically or verbally threatened but realized that he was “bigger and blocking the way,” she testified.

“The next thing I know was: I was on the bed,” and they were having sex, Daniels recalled. The encounter was brief but left her “shaking,” she said. “I just wanted to leave,” she testified.

Stormy Daniels alleges in new documentary that Donald Trump cornered her the night they met

‘I have not forgiven myself because I didn’t shut his a— down in that moment’ in 2006, the adult filmmaker says in ‘Stormy,’ premiering March 18 on Peacock.

March 7, 2024

Payments for silence

Daniels was asked if Trump ever told her to keep things between them confidential, and said, “Absolutely not.” She said she learned in 2011 that a magazine had learned the story of their encounter, and she agreed to do an interview for $15,000 to make money and “control the narrative.” The story never ran.

In 2016, when Trump was running for president, Daniels said she authorized her manager to shop the story around but did not initially receive interest from news outlets. She said that changed in October with the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump bragged about grabbing women sexually without asking permission . She said she learned that Cohen wanted to buy her silence.

Former tabloid publisher testifies about scheme to shield Trump from damaging stories

Trump is back in a New York courtroom as his hush money trial resumes. In D.C., the Supreme Court considers if he should be immune for actions while president.

April 25, 2024

Mistrial push

Midway through her testimony, Trump’s lawyers moved for a mistrial.

Defense lawyer Todd Blanche argued that Daniels’ testimony about the alleged encounter and other meetings with him had “nothing to do with this case,” and would unfairly prejudice the jury.

The judge rejected it, and he faulted defense attorneys for not raising more of their objections while she was testifying.

Before Daniels took the stand, Trump’s lawyers had tried to stop her from testifying about the encounter’s details, saying it was irrelevant in “a case about books and records.”

Prosecutors countered that Daniels’ testimony gets at what Trump was trying to hide and they were “very mindful” not to draw too much graphic detail. Before Daniels took the stand, they told the judge the testimony would be “really basic,” and would not “involve any details of genitalia.”

While the judge didn’t side with Trump’s lawyers, he acknowledged that some details were excessive. The objections could potentially be used by Trump’s lawyers if he is convicted and they file an appeal.

News analysis: Why Putin is raising the specter of nuclear weapons again

Russia announces plans to hold drills near Ukraine simulating the use of battlefield nuclear weapons.

May 6, 2024

Cross-examination

Trump’s lawyers tried to attack Daniels’ credibility, suggesting she was motivated by money and that her account has shifted over the years.

“Am I correct that you hate President Trump?” defense lawyer Susan Necheles asked Daniels at one point. Daniels acknowledged she did.

“And you want him to go to jail?” the lawyer asked.

“I want him to be held accountable,” Daniels said. Pressed again whether that meant going to jail, she said: “If he’s convicted.”

The defense pressed Daniels on the fact that she owes Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees stemming from an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit, and on a 2022 tweet in which she said she “will go to jail before I pay a penny.” Daniels dug in at times in the face of pointed questions, forcefully denying the idea that she had tried to extort money from Trump.

Trump whispered frequently to his attorney during Daniels’ testimony, and his expression seemed to be pained at one point as she recounted details about the dinner she says they shared. He shook his head and appeared to say something under his breath as Daniels testified that Trump told her he didn’t sleep in the same room as his wife.

On the way out of the courthouse, Trump called it “a very revealing day.” He didn’t address Daniels’ testimony explicitly but claimed the prosecutors’ case was “totally falling apart.”

With oil funds and Formula One, Saudi Arabia steamrolls its way onto sports’ hallowed grounds

Saudi Arabia’s oil riches have rocked soccer, golf, even esports, and the autocratic kingdom is expanding in Formula One car racing. What’s behind the push?

May 2, 2024

Jarring split screen

Trump’s appearance in court Tuesday, like all other days he’s stuck in the courtroom, means he can’t be out on the campaign trail as he runs for president a third time. It’s a frequent source of his complaints, but Daniels’ testimony in particular might underscore how much of a distraction the trial is from the business of running for president.

While Trump was stuck in a Manhattan courthouse away from voters and unable to speak for much of the day, President Biden was attending a Holocaust remembrance ceremony and condemning antisemitism .

It’s an issue Trump has sought to use against Biden in the campaign by seizing on the protests at college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war .

Associated Press writer Price reported from New York, Whitehurst from Washington. AP writers Michael Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Jake Offenhartz and Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this story.

More to Read

Trump trial turns to sex, bank accounts and power: Highlights from the third week of testimony

May 11, 2024

Commentary: Being a porn star doesn’t make Stormy Daniels a liar. Trump’s lawyer should have known that

May 10, 2024

Judge directs Michael Cohen to keep quiet about Trump ahead of his testimony

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