Wiser by Day
Being Here · Lesson 1 of 6 · Free
Stand on the line
Practise being where you are, one small return to the present at a time.
Read the first lesson
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The lesson
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 it for yourself
A short 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 write about
Where did your mind go most often: past, future, or here?
You can reflect without writing. Nothing you think or write on this page is collected.