Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside awakes. Carl Jung.

One of the most important things the Covid-19 has tsunami taught us, if nothing else, is how precious our time is. The past is behind us. It is made up of the stories and events other people have learned and experienced. Not yours. And the future hasn’t happened yet, so don’t spend your time worrying about it. It will be what it will be.

There is only the present. That’s where the action lies.

Living in the present moment is an attitude. It is all about being mindful, something you can learn. Mindfulness, learning to live in the present takes courage, time, discipline and self-esteem.

It’s a process that takes longer to do than simply reading this. There are courses you can take, books you can read and groups you can join. But for starters, here are five things you can do now.

1. Wrestle your to do list to the ground. Be ruthlessly honest. Remember, there are only 168 hours in a week and after you subtract time for eating, sleeping and doing all the daily required tasks, there really aren’t that many hours left. Do what’s important first.
2. Learn to say say “no.” If someone asks for your a piece of your time, check your calendar before you commit. Arrange a mutually convenient time to get together. Mutually is the operative word.
3. Stop being a slave to the Internet and social media. It can be a terrible time waster.
4. In your person-to-person relationships, increase your awareness of how you interact and respond to others. Practice being aware. Be attentive. Listen. Develop more patience.
5. Concentrate more on today and not so much on the future. If you are doing the right things today, the future will look after itself.

The here and now is all you have, but if you play your cards right, it’s all you really need!