Focusing On The Moment
By Patricia Racine
November 2026
This year I noticed for the first time how fast the months went, especially the summer ones. I was able to do so much this summer, but for the first time I was reluctant to see the season end. The good thing is that I took the time to pay close attention to every minute and be mindful of how important it is to just sit within yourself and observe. So much of our lives are spent waiting for and memorializing big moments-weddings, babies, promotions, new homes, vacations and while these things should be celebrated, so should the ordinary moments. When we look back on our lives, our story is rarely made of these monumental peaks; our story is built out of the quiet, ordinary moments that fill our daily lives.
I installed an app on my phone this summer to help keep me aware of completing daily tasks that I was letting slide; I was only making my bed on the days I washed sheets. Anyway, mindfulness is a part of this app and has encouraged me to really pay attention to the beautiful things around me.
The Big Pond Loon that made me smile every time I paddled by. Photo by Patricia Racine
Throughout history some of the greatest thinkers have warned us against saving our personal happiness for future potentially big moments. They argued that mastering the art of living, really living, required the ability to see rather than feel the small moments.
The Stoic Presence, practiced by Marcus Aurelius and Seneca, promoted a calm and grounded way of being that focused on your current moment and on the little things that you can control. They taught of finding awe in the ordinary, like the perfect symmetry of a pinecone or the rich red colors of a maple leaf (both of which are sitting on my work desk with other nature trinkets that I pick up on my walks). “Life is long, if you know how to use it.” -Seneca
The Poetic Astonishment is Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver’s contribution to living a good life. “Pay Attention. Be Astonished. Tell About It.” Oliver got most of her inspiration from solitary walks in the wild. My kind of lady! She felt that true happiness comes from slowing down and focusing on the small wonders in nature.
In The Weight of Memory theory Proust explained how our biggest memories are tied to simple sensory triggers. When I walk by a ripe dumpster in the middle of summer, I am instantly transported to an area on the street between the beach and our cottage at Hampton Beach circa early 1980s. I can see it “clear as day” from just a whiff of a scent that would make most people gag.
Unfortunately, in this high-speed world our brains are naturally wired to keep up and have become very efficient to cope with the speed we live at. We tend to miss the little moments because we are mentally blurring the familiar and focusing on threats, and upcoming events, and milestones. This means we tend to move through life on autopilot, treating the present as a stepping stone to the next big event or goal on our bucket list. And we wonder why the years go by so fast.
My rock collection of treasures found out and about. Photo by Patricia Racine
I don’t know about you, but I want to live for today and appreciate the present. No, that doesn’t require meditating for hours, sitting in the lotus position on the forest floor, maybe just stopping to admire how the sunlight peeks through the canopy above you or how lovely wildflowers smell on an evening walk. You need to accept some small changes in how you interact with your immediate environment, and this can be done by practicing “First Time – Last Time Perception.” Just observe something in your everyday routine as if it’s the first/last time you are seeing it; this should, in theory, lift away the fog and focus on that ordinary scene making it look fresh and new.
This past summer I took and shared pictures of things that made me smile. While most of them were accepted with many likes, there were a few that were specific to my personal opinion of happiness. And that’s okay: I wasn’t sharing these pictures to get likes and I never expect everyone to 100% agree with my idea of happiness as I probably don’t share theirs. But, stitching those personally important everyday events is what makes life meaningful individually. If we go through life with an observer’s eye and a listener’s ear, we are sure to find meaning and joy in our individual journeys around the sun and maybe slow those days down a little.