You interpret life based on events you have experienced in the past.

It may not be apparent to you, but at the back of your mind, you are constantly comparing, judging and evaluating everything that comes through your senses with something that took place seconds, days or even years ago.

While memories help you to maintain a sense of continuity in life, it can also hold you captive, imprisoning your mind and seeing life only through a small tinted window.

The result is, you no longer experience reality as it is. Instead, you perceive reality through memories from the past and worries about the future, creating a distorted version of reality.

Since everyone’s life experience is different, the reality perceived by each individual is also not the same.

That is why two persons who went through the same event can have vastly different interpretations and responses.

If you know that your reality is just a subset of the real thing, then it would not be so bad. But most of the time, you do not.

You believe that your reality is the only right one, and you even force it on other people, who in turn see life through a different set of tinted glass. Suddenly, life is all about proving who is right and who is wrong.

You end up living in a cell that determines how you will feel and how you will react to any given event.

If something fits into your way of seeing things, you feel satisfied and happy, and desire more of it. If it does not, you become angry, anxious, depressed or stressed.

When you surrender completely to the Now and put all your attention on every moment, your full awareness connects you to the flow of life. That is when living becomes effortless and intuitive.

You will begin to respond to each moment instinctively without worries or anxieties, because at this moment there aren’t hundreds of things you need to do – there is only one thing to do, the Now.

One good way to learn how to live in this moment is to practice breathing meditation. You just have to sit comfortably and focus your attention on every in and out breath.

Our breaths born and die with every moment and they only happen in the Now. When your breathing stops, now will also cease to exist.

Do this simple meditation every day for about 20 minutes. As you become accustomed to focusing on your breath, it will become progressively easier to stay in the Now.

Your mind will become less distracted by hazard thoughts and memories. By being able to focus on this moment, you bring greater awareness to your everyday life.