Present focused living means deliberately directing your attention toward what is happening now, rather than becoming excessively absorbed in the past or preoccupied with an imagined future.
It may not mean ignoring the past or refusing to plan for the future. It may mean using the past for learning and the future for planning, while recognizing that your actual ability to act exists in the present moment.
A simple way to understand it
The past is for learning. The future is for planning. The present is for living and acting.
Three time perspectives
| Time | Healthy use | Unhelpful pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Past | Reflection, learning, processing | Rumination, regret, resentment |
| Future | Planning, preparation, realistic anticipation | Catastrophizing, excessive worry |
| Present | Action, awareness, engagement | Avoidance or impulsive distraction |
What present focused living looks like
Instead of:
“Why did I let that happen years ago?”
Ask:
“What can I learn from what happened, and what can I do today?”
Instead of:
“What if something terrible happens tomorrow?”
Ask:
“Is there something reasonable I can prepare for today?”
And when there isn’t an immediate action to take:
“Can I allow myself to experience this moment without solving everything?”
The psychological principle
Present focused living is closely related to mindfulness, but it may be broader than mindfulness meditation.
It may involve:
- Attention: noticing what is happening now.
- Acceptance: allowing the present to be what it is without immediately fighting it.
- Metacognition: recognizing when your mind has moved into rumination or worry.
- Behavioral choice: deciding what action is useful now.
- Emotional regulation: experiencing emotions without automatically reacting to them.
- Reality orientation: distinguishing what is actually happening from what you fear, remember, or imagine.
The “rear view mirror” analogy
The rear view mirror is small because you need to know where you’ve been but the windshield is much larger because you need to see where you’re going.
The past remains important. You occasionally need to look backward. But driving while staring continuously into the rear view mirror is dangerous.
Likewise, excessive attention to the past may become rumination, while excessive attention to the future could become chronic worry.
Present focused living brings your attention back to:
“What is happening, and what may I meaningfully do about it, right now?”
A practical 30 second exercise
Pause and ask:
- What is happening right now?
- What am I feeling right now?
- What am I thinking about?
- Am I in the past, future, or present?
- Is there something I can actually do about this right now?
- If yes…take the next reasonable action.
- If no…return attention to the present.
The goal may not be to live only in the present. It is to avoid allowing yesterday’s pain or tomorrow’s uncertainty to consume today’s life.
Shervan K Shahhian
LIBERTY PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION 