Embrace the Moment

July 21, 2026/Julie Stobbe/

Reading time – 5 minutes

Embrace the Moment

Existence is the present moment and the present moment only. You can use your past to act more intelligently in the present. That can help you plan for and create the life you desire.

Planning and preparation have their place. There are things you have to do today and plan on doing tomorrow and next week so you can pay your bills. You may want to take a vacation in a few months. It would be silly not to plan your actions until then so your vacation can go off without a hitch.

What happens sometimes is that people are constantly looking for the next moment.

They can’t wait to get out of work to spend time with their friends. At dinner with friends, they look at their phones and realize their favourite reality show will be on soon. While at home watching television, they are thinking about a work responsibility they must tackle the following day. Immediately upon rising the following morning, that person thinks of the traffic she’ll have to battle to get to work on time.

Every thought is about the future, and we have no control over any future reality.

Don’t spend your entire life looking at your past or your future. Before you know it, you’ll be at the end of your road and won’t have enjoyed so many present moments that could have given you joy and fulfillment. The only existence you have is right now.

That sentence you just read is already behind you, in your past. This is an example of how fleeting time is. It’s also a lesson that you should grasp your current reality and embrace it. Give it its moment. Look for the beauty in the now. You’ll find that you enjoy less stress and anxiety and more fulfillment and peace of mind. That’s a life worthy of living.

Live in the Moment and Stop Overthinking Things

Do you ever predict that some future event will turn out terrible for you? A lot of people do. This is a pretty common human behaviour. It’s probably rooted in a survival instinct response. You want to constantly monitor your surroundings for anything that may harm you in some way, physically, mentally, or emotionally.

If you have a big test, you start thinking about what will happen if you fail. Before you know it, your every waking thought leads to nervousness and anxiety. Even though you are prepared for the test, all this obsessing over a potentially poor outcome causes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You predict failure, and … that’s what you create.

This is a simple example of overthinking things. It’s what humans love to do for whatever reasons. We constantly create pictures in our minds of a terrible outcome with dire consequences. These thoughts persist and grow until they totally overtake rationality.

Overthinking and Inventing Dire Consequences Almost Always Make Things Much Worse Than They Are Ever Going to Be

Thoughts are just thoughts. They are not reality. How many times do you have dozens of conflicting thoughts every day? It happens all the time. You might think about a possible outcome so much that you create dozens of potential realities.

Guess what? Only one reality is possible. It might not even be one you imagined. And most of the time, that obsessive, negative inner voice that never seems to stop will paint a picture that’s nowhere close to reality.

Win or lose, succeed or fail, things are rarely as bad as you expect they’re going to be.

Stay in the Moment and Embrace Your “Now” for More Success, Less Stress, and More Peace of Mind

When you’re constantly giving life to less than positive thoughts, you’re allowing for the creation of a negative outcome. When most of your thoughts are of a negative nature, life shows us that that’s more of what we’re going to receive.

To remove a lot of the negativity in your life, the failures and mistakes, start embracing the current moment. Don’t worry about your past. Don’t fret over the future. Learn from past mistakes and use them to plan for a better future, but spend most of your time in the present.

Embrace your current moment, this single instance in time. It allows you to focus on what you’re doing right now to create more future success. You only control the present moment, so give that point in time most of your focus.

For More Productivity and Better Outcomes, Stay in the Moment

Do you remember when multitasking was all the rage? In the 1990s, self-professed productivity gurus told us to constantly juggle multiple tasks. We were told that most big achievers in life could do several different things at once, all of them successfully and at a high level of productivity.

Best-selling books talked about multitasking to improve virtually every aspect of our lives. We were told we could do so much more in less time, giving us more free time to do whatever we wanted.

After a few years of generating billions of dollars in self-improvement sales, multitasking was unmasked.

It was found to be a productivity killer. Millions of people woke up to the reality that the best way to get something done is to do one thing at a time. Focus on a single task until it is completed. Then begin tackling something else. This was and still is the single best way to maximize your time and minimize your effort.

Giving All Your Attention to the Current Moment Is All about Focus

One of the oldest carpentry axioms tells us to “Measure twice, cut once.” This minimizes errors. You don’t spend more money than you need to on lumber. You’re not wasting money on wood you miscut because you were in a rush with your measurement.

In other words, the entire focus is on the present moment. That moment is measuring the piece of lumber you are about to cut. You’re not thinking about an upcoming vacation or what you’ll eat for dinner. That can cause you to make a mistake. Nothing else should exist except whatever it is you’re going to be cutting.

Then you measure it again. Your focus is so intense on getting this right that you understand the importance of double-checking your work. This is a simple example of living in the moment. The best carpenters are present in their current actions. They understand that letting their minds wander could lead to an incorrect measurement. That means having to buy more materials to replace their mistakes.

A lack of focus on carpentry could also mean smashing your thumb with a hammer. Or worse, if you aren’t paying attention while using a saw.

We use these real-world examples of the importance of focus to help you appreciate living in the current moment.

You’ll improve productivity if you focus on the “right now” slice of your life. It’s really all you have control over, isn’t it? Your past is behind you, and your future is far from guaranteed or controllable. Start spending more time in the present moment, totally immersed in your current existence, and you’ll see more productivity and better results in your life.

Do you live in the moment? Tell me how it makes your life better

Julie Stobbe is the 2024-2025 winner of the Harold Taylor Award for outstanding contributions to the organizing industry and Professional Organizers in Canada. As a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach, she brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides, mentors and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.