A great way to cultivate the experience of living in the HERE AND NOW is to pick up paper and pen, and sketch something in your surroundings.
Think about it. What more efficient way to slow down time, and become one with your surroundings than through the practice of sitting quietly, and staring intently at something close to you.
Attached are three of my sketches. Not great by any means but rewarding and especially as it relates to this discussion; helped me stop time, and capture the moment I was in and thereby help me experience the HERE AND NOW.
As an added benefit, practicing the HERE and NOW (through sketching) cultivates effects similar to meditation and mindfulness (and in fact, provides a great foundation to those that ultimately want to take up meditation).
Give it a try! You’ll be glad you did!
P.S. a word of encouragement to the discouraged—don’t allow yourself to fall into the normal “I can’t do it trap”. You know what I mean, the typical excuse to ourselves that we can’t sketch because we don’t have talent or don’t know how.
Don’t forget learning to walk, mathematics, and riding a bike took time! So keep practicing and trying (and/or take lessons). You will not only come to appreciate the value in creating something of your own, but also the value of slowing down time and more intimately experiencing the world about you—i.e. live in the HERE AND NOW.
