Many of us remember the concert venue in Asheville called, ‘Be Here Now.’ Although long since gone, it was the location where many of my favorite singer/songwriters performed and lounged about.
Back then, I thought the title was nothing more than a not-so-subtle way to get people to pay the cover charge. Today, I know a bit more about the name they chose.
‘Be Here Now’ comes from the title of a book by Ram Dass about Hindu spirituality that was published in the early 1970s. As I have come to learn, the catchy phrase has been repurposed countless times to reflect the Hindu philosophy of valuing the present moment.
Be here now. Consider that for just a moment and you’ll come to realize that it’s not as easy it sounds.
It’s exceptionally difficult to be present. That is, it’s very easy to be somewhere else. The word ‘distracted’ doesn’t come close to capturing how divided our spirits are. We live in a veritable Times Square of stimuli within our heads. Everything and everyone compete for our attention. Crises and emergencies steal our focus away. The demands of work are ever-present and inescapable. Our calendars look like venn diagrams. Our to-do lists are ever-expanding. Our minds are desperately working to cling to the information we’ve accumulated, while also trying to make new data stick.
Exhausted yet? Hang with me because that’s just the half of it.
Our internal world is just as chaotic. We’re constantly replaying what happened last week, last month, or last year. We’re rewriting conversations the way they should have gone. We’re grieving what might have been. We’re romanticizing the past. We’re fixated on what’s about to happen, and what that will demand of us. We fantasize about what may be, what could be, and what we wish it might be.
And then there’s the role that technology plays in keeping us distracted. We carry devices that steal us away to other more pressing matters…all the time. Messages, reminders, communiques and headlines thwart our attention with ruthless affect. We are focused on nothing. And it shows.
We fail to be present with our spouses. Our children speak to us, but we do not hear them. The movie reminds us of work. The dinner date is a placeholder for planning, or reminiscing, or rehashing. The worship service is just a time to fume on the slight we experienced in Sunday School. The hike is just a time to worry about the future. The wedding is just a prelude to the reception. The funeral is just something to get through.
When our spirits are divided, and when we are distracted, we react to life. We make poor decisions. We are self-centered and unaware. The ones we love get overlooked. We hurt rather than help.
Be here now? What a joke. We’re everywhere all the time. Which means, of course, that we’re nowhere most of the time.
This is not a way to live. Or at least, this is not a way to live well.
Sometimes I wonder if the reason we allow ourselves to be distracted is because we’re dissatisfied with the present. And admit it: ‘Being here now’ can hurt us. The present moment is fraught with peril and danger. If we’re always moving, always thinking, always wondering, always considering, always planning, always dreaming, always reliving, then it’s harder for us to get hurt in the present moment. But it’s also hard for us to really be alive.
When we allow ourselves to be divided by everything else, we are being poor stewards of the gift of life that God has given to us. Our lives matter to God. We matter to God. We know this because God took time to ‘be here now’ with us in the person of Jesus Christ, His son.
The Bible tells us that gratitude and thanksgiving are what can keep us grounded and present in the moment. Being thankful enables us to savor the moment and to be present in the now. “Being thankful in all things (1 Thessalonians 5:18),” then, becomes a way for us to “have life and to have it abundantly (John 10:10).” When we are blessed with life, we will experience the wide breadth and depth of it. That is, if we allow it; if we truly live it.
Here’s some practical encouragement:
1.) Breathe. Pray that God gives you the presence of mind to be present in every aspect of your day.
2.) Resist. Be aware of where your head and your heart go. Find handholds in the present moment to grasp when your attention is diverted.
3.) Build fences. Set boundaries with technology so that you’re not always being tapped on the shoulder.
4.) Feel. Savor each moment, even the hard things. It heightens our awareness and enables us to feel the world around us.
5.) Be Thankful. Allow thanksgiving and gratitude to flow through each moment. Internally (and out loud!) verbalize your appreciation for what is being given to you.
Be here now. Although it may not seem like it, each moment we are graced with is a gift from God. Imagine the good we can do when we are fully present with God, and with ourselves and with one another. Life was redeemed in Christ Jesus and then given to us as a gift. It would be a shame to waste it.