February, 9 2026

I ask myself this every day: What does it really mean to be present? What does it feel like?

I know this from my time exploring various forms of art, that presence feels like flow. When I am one with the moment, my heart, and my head, I enter a flow state that drops me right into the present moment and grants me clarity that feels like twenty-twenty vision.

I witness the world expanding before me, and it reveals to me the possibilities and parts of reality I cannot see when I am lost inside myself. I feel as if I am clearing my eyes. I do not question myself; I sense the world around me and make improvised decisions that reflect the moment and what I am dealing with.

It is hard to remain here in the now.

The past tugs at the back of my mind, throwing flashes and memories to pull me back in time.

The future sends me dreams and visions of what is to come, of what is possible. These dreams and visions feel like water in a desert. But they only feel that way when I am not enjoying the now, or taking care of my mind, body, and spirit now. Oh, the caveat.

When I think about true presence, I look to my animal companions. They are beings that truly exist here, not in yesterday, and not in tomorrow. And they are full of joy for it. They are also ready to survive much more efficiently than I am when I am out of time, simply because they are in it.

It is a lie that the past and future help you now. Seeing reality, the way it is now, is what helps you now. Because we all must improvise in the moment, we must make sure we are responding to what needs us to now. The present is all we have; the rest I fear is story and fantasy.

Here is an exercise from the guru, Eckhart Tolle, that I use myself all the time when I wander off in my mind somewhere else in time: Tune into the negative space around you, the matter that exists around the objects in your space, the formless, and then when you have done that successfully tune into the silence around the noise in your environment. This silence should echo inside yourself because it is never truly gone. Focus here. Stay here as long as you like, until you feel you are back in tune with now. And tell yourself, “Today is a great day, something wonderful is going to happen.”

Stay safe out there, stay here and now. God bless.

May the quiet moments ahead reveal their gentle truths,

Nicole Asbjorn