Six days · About five minutes a day
Being Here
Practise being where you are, one small return to the present at a time.
Your six days
- Stand on the line — Free in your browser
- One thing at a time
- Bring it back kindly
- Let the water settle
- Hear what's already there
- Make a habit of returning
A taste of Day 1: Stand on the line
Welcome. Most of us spend the day somewhere else, in an hour that has passed or one that hasn't come. Over six short days, we'll practise coming back. Today, we find the line between the two.
to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line.Henry David Thoreau · Walden, Where I Lived, and What I Lived For
First published 1854
Thoreau pictures the present as a line, with everything already done behind it and everything not yet done ahead. The line is thin, and it is the only place anything can actually be felt or chosen. You don't need to stay on it. That isn't possible. The practice is simply to notice when you've wandered off, and to step back on.
Try the reflection
Sit comfortably and feel where your body meets the chair, and where your feet meet the floor. Now notice what your mind is doing. Is it in the past, in the future, or here? Just name it, quietly: past, future, or here. Then come back to the feeling of your feet. If your mind leaves, that's fine. Name it and return. Take two and a half minutes.
One question to take with you
Where did your mind go most often: past, future, or here?
Day 1 is free. Days 2–6 are planned for the iPhone app, coming soon. This is reflection, not medical advice.