When you look within and are present, you are without anything permanent. You are without possessions, without employment or enterprise, alone without family or friends. You are naked and completely vulnerable.
You don’t even have a future, nor the hope that something might change. Nothing ever changes because nothing has ever been before. All that exists now is only now.
You are here. Here and now.
You are like a newborn child, sensing the world for the first time. Nothing has ever existed for you before. You do not yet know what "yet" means. You live in the moment because that is all you have and all you know.
When you see something, you see it for the very first time. You do not think about to whom it belongs. You gaze at it in awe, not even understanding its purpose or relation to you.
You don’t even have a family yet. There are only figures whose presence often feels pleasing, at least after the initial shock.
You are only here. Here and now.
Remember this feeling. The feeling of nothingness, and how anything you think exists now may not exist in the next moment.
And the next time you look outward, continue to live in that feeling.
Be present and aware when you look at things you think you own. They may be yours now, but they are not always.
Be present and aware when you do things. Later, your tasks are done, and they cannot be undone. How you do them matters, so be present in them.
Be present and aware when you are with your family and friends. Be present with other people. You will not get any of them back, for they exist only here and now, and even your family is only temporary.
But you do not have to lose these things to be present. You do not have to give up your possessions, nor leave your job, nor abandon your family. Renunciation is not a shortcut to presence.
It is good for you to be present and aware in everyday life and in pleasure, with people who are meaningful to you.
When you are present, everything is here and now for you, just as you are. Nothing exists except this moment. Make it worth the while, whatever the moment may be.
Awaken.