The present moment

I love the interview with Pema Chodron in the February issue of “O, the Oprah Magazine.” She offers much wisdom and healing. I especially like this quote: "The journey is all there is, really. The future never comes, because it's always the present moment."

I put that on my calendar as a reminder. Being present is so important. I have a whole chapter in my book Working on the Inside devoted to being In the Moment. As Vanessa Williams told me when I interviewed her for that chapter: “Being present is a gift you have when you’re a child and you don’t have a past or a future. Then society gets to you and anxiety and remorse creep into your life and they don’t allow you to be present. I try to incorporate it everyday, to not remind myself of past failures and learn to forgive and trust the future. It makes life easier to be in the present, it’s just hard to do.”

As actor and Jesuit George Drance told me for the Prayer chapter, awareness when practiced becomes a habit. It’s a habit I will keep trying to acquire. Kristin Chenoweth was right when she said, you miss a lot of blessings if you're not in the moment.