How to Live in the Now? a Journaling Prompt
In this weird little rant, I write about how to live in the now. I also suggest you some journaling prompts to help you find yourself.
I went from worrying constantly about the future of being so laser-focused on the present moment in life that nothing else seemed to matter but where I was.
Living in the now is unarguably the only way one should be living their life. The past isn’t real anymore and the future isn’t promised, what only remains is what you do today, how you live, whether you smile enough, whether you make sure you’re being good to the people you love or not.
In Short:
table of contents
let’s establish something
If you’re up for reading something about childhood, an upcoming post would draw you in: Would you redo childhood? A journaling prompt.
Living in the now is not hard. You don’t have to disregard what you were in the past and you are not expected to not have any positive expectations from the future.
You can dream, you can reminisce, you are allowed to feel nostalgia, you are allowed to feel scared sometimes, you are allowed to feel it all.
Have you ever wondered if this moment is enough? What if you decide one day that you’re just not going to sit back and let the present moment pass by, you’re going to take life by the horns and give it your all, live through every moment with courage that knows no bounds.
how to live in the now?
Draw the moment around you and it will slow time down, you’ll be able to watch the moment happening right in front of you as your pencil moves on the paper and your eyes try to capture in every single detail of the world around you.
Close your eyes and focus on that energy focus at the center of your forehead. Your body might resist, your head might ache, because this is new, because this seems life-changing. Let everything happen to you, let your body itch, your breath turn heavy, your spine ache, let that air tickle your hair, invite the noise inside, but don’t move. This is you training your mind to breathe and stay in this exact moment, with your own self as the world rises to chaos around you.
Don’t treat things as means, they’re ends in themselves. I’m reading this book because I want to crack that exam. I’m talking to this person because I need their help. I’m learning this skill because it’d add to my career prospects. When we treat stuff as just means to reach some other end, we inevitably invite redundancy, treat it just like we do countless other mundane things. That is what draining the joy out of something looks like.
answer a few of these whys + a rant
I’ve got one life. Why would I ever think about letting it go? Why would I not live every second to the fullest?
Why would I worry about tomorrow, whether it be the tomorrow that comes after 24 hours or the tomorrow that comes after 24 years?
Why would I not smile right now? Why would I worry when I can create any reality that I want? Why would I think about them?
Why would I be anxious about something that probably isn’t even going to happen? Why would I not live every second down to the fullest? This is the new me.
Today is a beautiful day and I’ve still got time. Why would I waste even a single second of it?
When we are younger, we have plans. And dreams. So many dreams. And even though older people tell us, reality is far different than what you believe it is, we still think we’ll be the odd one out. We’ll be the black sheep.
And so we choose to focus ourselves on smaller things, instead of worrying about the real stuff everyone else worries about. We’re different, we’ll make it. Let’s think about: Do they like me? What does that person think of me? Am I good enough?
And you know it’s bad to spend your time doing this, but you always think, I’ll stop tomorrow. I’ll stop worrying tomorrow. I’ll stop overthinking tomorrow. All these tomorrow’s can make up a year. And then years pass. It gets to you, the reality, you know. And you think, I’ll change next January. I’ll stop this January. The next one will be better.
Your youth is made up of only a few Januarys. And trust me, this January is as good as it gets. This is the best one. The one that’s here now. Because, believe it or not, your life will only be as good as it is now.
Why? Why so pessimistic? Why so humbled? Because no moment ever finds you twice. This moment is the best one in your life. Life is only in the now. There’s no distant future that’ll all of a sudden see you happier and more in love with yourself. If there’s anything, it’s now. And life happens just like this. Now. Now. Now.
journaling prompts to live in the now
Journaling prompts to help us live in the now.
- What significance will this moment have in the grand scheme of life? (The answer to this question will both be terrifying and rectifying).
- What is this moment trying to teach me?
- What do you want your life to look like? Not mindless dreaming or fantasizing, but just everything you want to see happen in your life someday.
- If this moment was all I had, how would I be treating it differently?
- What could I do right now to feel the most alive I’ve ever felt, in my life, in this moment?
- As I consciously strive to live in the present, what thoughts seek to pull me into the past or the future, what thoughts try to make me lose my mind because of anxiety or regret?
- Do I often push things for later? What could I be doing to find that joy right now?
- If I had everything I had ever wanted, right now with me, would I finally be happy?
Write something as if time had paused and you were the only one staying around. Now everyone might be moving ahead but this particular moment looks too good to miss or fast-forward.
That being said, pour your heart out on paper. Write stuff. Draw stuff. Read a lot of stuff.
See you with our next journaling prompts. Until then, read our manifesto on being in love with life.
If you want to read more of journaling, we created a collection of 23 journaling prompts.
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