THE LIMITATIONS OF FOCUSING ON THE PRESENT MOMENT

To be in the present moment, it's not focusing or what we focus on which is important, it's how we use the senses. By sensing in a panoramic way we are automatically here and now, automatically in the present moment.

Focusing is always a form of selective attention, so if you focus on something you always close off your general awareness to all the other things which are happening in this present moment.

The minute you are actually mindful of the present moment, you will find you are sensing in a panoramic way. Panoraming and mindfulness in the present moment are synonymous.

Exercises such as focusing on the taste of food, on every footstep, on bird song, on a tree or flower, or on the breathing, can be very stimulating. And focusing, when used in concentration exercises, is essential.

But on internet these days, there are literally hundreds of sites which advise focusing on the present moment.

And, mindfulness in the present moment is very different to focusing on it. By focusing we can find a degree of being here and now, but it will always only be a limited degree. Focusing is always selective, it always limits the full spectrum of what's actually happening.

By being mindful in a panoramic way we are automatically here and now, automatically in the present moment.

This subject is covered in more depth in How to be Now.

How could this modern "focus on the present moment" trend develop? Everyone seems to be collectively 'blinkered' by an unquestioned understanding of the world purely in terms of focusing... Question Everything!

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