Being Present Quotes

“Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”
― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

“To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the breaking of bread.”
― James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

“Anyone can buy a car or a night on the town. Most of us shell our days like peanuts. One in a thousand can look at the world with amazement. I don't mean gawking at the Chrysler Building. I'm talking about the wing of a dragonfly. The tale of the shoeshine. Walking through an unsullied hour with an unsullied heart.”
― Amor Towles, Rules of Civility

“We’re so caught up in trying to do everything, experience all the essential things, not miss out on anything important...We can’t read all the good books, watch all the good films, go to all the best cities in the world, try all the best restaurants, meet all the great people...Life is better when we don’t try to do everything. Learn to enjoy the slice of life you experience, and life turns out to be wonderful.”
― Leo Babauta

“Places don't matter to people any more. Places aren't the point. People are only ever half present where they are these days. They always have at least one foot in the great digital nowhere.”
― Matt Haig, How to Stop Time

“Like a child standing in a beautiful park with his eyes shut tight, there's no need to imagine trees, flowers, deer, birds, and sky; we merely need to open our eyes and realize what is already here, who we already are - as soon as we stop pretending we're small or unholy.”
― Bo Lozoff

“Believe me, all of you, the best way to help the places we live in is to be glad we live there.”
― Edith Wharton

“Above all, we cannot afford not to live in the present. He is blessed over all mortals who loses no moment of the passing life in remembering the past.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walking

“You have the power to stop time. You do it by kissing. Or listening to music.”
― Matt Haig, The Humans

“It occurred to her that all the bad parts of life, the sad parts, the frightening ones, were meant to be offset by moments and memories like this. She had to be present in it, right here, right now.”
― Martina Boone, Persuasion

“Think of the universe as an eternal creative unfolding.
Trees blossom.
Cells replicate.
Rivers forge new tributaries.
The world pulses with productive energy, and everything that exists on this planet is driven by that energy.
Every manifestation of this unfolding is doing its own work on behalf of the universe, each in its own way, true to its own creative impulse.”
― Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being

“Our appointment with life is in the present moment. If we do not have peace and joy right now when will we have peace and joy--tomorrow, or after tomorrow? What is presenting us from being happy right now?”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

“It is only when you learn to be present and available with non-judgment and
compassionately hold space for the wounded and broken fragments of yourself,
that you are able to truly hold space for another.”
― Markus William Kasunich

“In order to truly experience the beauty and richness of the moments of our life, we need to be fully present in them. And, in this presence, there is an even deeper beauty and joy to be found. We find the gifts of peace, truth and spirit.”
― Valerie Rickel

“They live in the opposite of the past.

I said, You mean the future?

No, Ry. The opposite of the past is the present. Anyone can live in a past that is gone or a future that does not exist. The opposite of either position is the present.”
― Jeanette Winterson, Frankissstein: A Love Story

“Being listened to feels so much like being loved that people can scarcely tell the difference.”
― David Taylor-Klaus

“There’s no multitasking with the moment.”
― A.D. Aliwat, In Limbo

“I sometimes want to stop time. I sometimes want, in a happy moment, for a church bell never to ring again. I want not to ever have to go to the market again. I want for the starlings to stop flying in the sky... But we are all at the mercy of time. We are all the strings, aren't we?”
― Matt Haig, How to Stop Time

“The present moment, though fleeting, is the only tangible moment.
The rest are but a heap of memories.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, The Oneironaut’s Diary

“But what I like most to do is lie down in the early evening, just for half an hour anywhere I am, and listen to all the sounds I can hear. As if I were listening to music. And being attentive to things very far and very present, and when you hear voices and they’re speaking a language you don’t understand, it’s really beautiful. I love that.”
― Jim Jarmusch

“While there is something genuinely sweet about capturing special life moments and sharing them with friends and family on social media, there is a balance. It’s fun to share and be social, but not to the detriment of sacrificing our own personal experience of the extraordinary moments of our lives.

The bliss and ecstasy of truly experiencing a moment—of experiencing God in a moment—will stay with us for a lifetime. The brief, fleeting elation of being more concerned with capturing the moment with our camera or video, so that we can post it to social media will probably stay with us for a day, maybe two. It isn’t possible to experience the moments of life and receive their many precious gifts, if we are only “partially present” in them.

Once every glorious moment of our lives is gone, it’s gone forever. We can’t hit the “undo” or “back” button and try to relive them again. We may get to re-experience “the recorded moment” on social media, but that version will never hold the same beauty, truth and gifts—God, spirit—as the actual one—the ecstatic, blissful moment that just passed us by.”
― Valerie Rickel

“It was like some kind of full-mind, full-body fuck. That was what it was like when your entire self was engaged. That was what it was like to pay attention.”
― Meg Wolitzer, The Female Persuasion

“Red Bird in Snow

You can choose
to stop short -
or have it
not matter
not weigh
the brightness,
not hold
very still
and be
known
to yourself
again.
A thing
fills
with exactly
the radiance
you accord it.”
― Lia Purpura, It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful

“If you start keeping track of your thoughts and write them down, you’ll find that most of the time, you are either thinking ahead or looking back.”
― Joe Dispenza, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One

“If I think behind me, I might break.
If I think forward, I lose now.
Forever will be a day like this
Strung perfectly on the necklace of days.”
― Joy Harjo, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems

“There are plenty of things in life beyond your control, so you have to control those few things that you are able to”
― Frank D. Prestia

“It can be a blast when good people and good laughs teleport you back to the way it once was. But you poison yourself with the past when you constantly stab and inject yourself with vain memories that rubberband you back to the way it used to be! Your task of escape is to bring all the past dope shit into your present moment and let it guide the new path you will take, to the future that YOU choose to deliberately create!”
― Curtis Tyrone Jones

“Listening is the peak manifestation of being present in the now without any constraints.”
― Carlo Mahfouz, Reality Check: In Pursuit of the Right Questions

“Sometimes we forget about our problems and find the focus and clarity of everything in this moment that makes our problems disappear.”
― Curtis Tyrone Jones

“Being present” is key to many of the lessons related to life fulfillment.

Being carefully aware of how you’re spending your time.

Not allowing your mind and ego to rob you of the current moment.

And, when you are in the present moment, looking, watching, and paying attention to all the things happening in your path, as this is where you will experience, see, and appreciate the many gifts that come your way.”
― J.J. DiGeronimo, Seeking: 74 Key Findings to Raise Your Energy, Sidestep Your Self-Doubts, and Align with Your Life’s Work