Living in the present

I just wrote the description of my Blog and it dawned on me that maybe some people out there are not aware of what is meant by living in the present or 'living in the now'. So many people you know are either living in the past with "we used to..........", "if only it was.................", "I wish it was..........", etc., or living in the future, how many people do you hear saying "in 6 weeks I'll be..........", "after I come back off holiday I'm going to........", "After next Christmas........", etc., etc. So where does that leave us? It leaves us in a kind of limbo, we're so busy looking back or looking forward that our present life passes us by almost without us noticing. Then all of a sudden the realisation that more years are behind us than we have left to go sort of pops up like some gruesome Jack-in-the-box and it becomes important to try and slow it all down so that we can get the best out of our time in this life.
There's a saying that 'the older you get, the faster time flies', but I think it's more a case of our perception of time is changing because even young people are saying that time seems to be passing more quickly. I don't know about you but it seems as soon as Christmas is over it's Easter, then summer holidays, and then before you know it the shops are stocking Christmas stuff and we've come full circle.
So how can we live in the present and slow it all down? Start by noticing things around you where you are, too often we lose ourselves in everyday routine, you get in a car and how many times have you got almost to your destination without realising the journey you've been on? It's scary, its almost like being hypnotised, of course if anything serious had happened you would react immediately and you would be catapaulted into the present but why should it take a near accident to make you start living in the present?
Start enjoying life a bit more, you take the dog out? - take time to look at nature around you. If you feel there isn't enough time for things, allow more time to do them, start out earlier or rearrange your days. Whatever doesn't get done will be there tomorrow to do, nothing is as important as your relationships, take time to let your loved ones know how much they mean to you, I'm sorry to say that we just don't know how long we have to live, don't ever leave it too late to say "I love you" to those you love. You will never regret saying it - you might regret NOT saying it.