Be Here Now. It’s the only way to actu­ally have a life. Moon­ing over the past or liv­ing in the future “…then I’ll be happy…” is a sure fire way to get into trou­ble. You snooze, you lose.

Exper­i­ment: In Zen monas­ter­ies, a bell is rung at irreg­u­lar inter­vals. The monks stop, and con­tem­plate their level of ‘pres­ence’ when the bell rang. Find a way to do the same — per­haps set a timer, and see where your atten­tion was when it goes off.

Zen liv­ing: Pay atten­tion. As you find your­self drift­ing off into thoughts and plans, plots and dreams, have a breath and bring your­self back to now. Inter­est­ing, real stuff is hap­pen­ing, and can only be appre­ci­ated by bring­ing your­self into the This End­less Moment. And what does it say about you if your fan­tasy life is more chargy and fun than your ‘real life?’