Life: Now. Here.

Are you aware?

For life to be exactly as it is in this very moment, neither lacking nor excessive, 13.8 billion years had to pass since the Big Bang, when everything emerged from a single essence.

Over that span, matter, forms, and events took on countless states until finally giving rise to you and the world you perceive.

Everything that happened throughout this long process, galaxies, stars, planets, and the emergence of life on those planets, right down to the most minute movements of living beings, had to be exactly as it was, without the slightest deviation, for you to be here reading these words. Had even one detail been different, the chain of events leading to you and to this very reading moment would not have unfolded. Perhaps neither you nor I would exist; indeed, the very circumstances enabling you to read these words might never have taken form.

From this, we can conclude that your life, and the entire chain of events before and during it, everything you hold in memory as your “past,” as well as everything happening right now, whether perceived or not, is unfolding exactly here and now, just as it must. Nothing is missing. Nothing is superfluous.

All that you see and sense around you, every object, every piece of furniture, every living and non-living form, is, in fact, as old as the universe itself. These elements have assumed countless shapes before arriving at their present state.

The ground beneath your feet, the objects on that ground, the clothes you wear, and in fact you, down to each of your tiniest particles, were all once part of the same one. Only through billions of years and an unbroken chain of events have those particles taken different forms, resulting in what you perceive as “me” and “the world around me.” Yet you remain, at your core, one with all that exists.

Try to keep this awareness alive in every moment of your life.

Realize that everything you can perceive, see, touch, hear, or smell, all living and non-living things, every plant, animal, person, and object is, in essence, not separate from you. The only reason they appear as distinct entities is time, your limited perception at the level of material forms, your mind, and the ego or sense of self you’ve built upon all that.

Recognize that all these things exist here and now so that you may experience them fully, that you may truly behold their essence. You alone among all these beings have the conscious capacity to recognize your own existence and theirs. As much as you need them, they need your awareness. Therefore, instead of reducing them to mere means of reaching a future state where you imagine you’ll be “more fulfilled,” “happier,” or “more complete,” learn to notice the beauty of each moment and the wonder of all that creates it.

Even in the simplest act of walking somewhere, don’t let your mind fixate solely on whatever “important” tasks await you at your destination or on the results of getting there. Pay attention to every step you take. Let the mere fact that you can take that step, and perceive yourself doing so, fill you with gratitude. Let your heart brim with appreciation for everything that makes that step possible: your body, the muscles that move it, the food that fuels it, each tiny particle composing you, the clothes on your back, the shoes on your feet, the air you breathe, and all that stands alongside you in this moment everything that is, at its core, one with you. When you look at these things, know that you are looking at yourself. Let the focus of your life be the step you’re taking, not the place you’re headed.

For in truth, no one can guarantee that taking a step or performing any particular action in life will necessarily deliver you to a better state than you occupy in this moment. Over time, if you remain on the same plane of thought, you might conclude that what you once believed to be “good for you” has not, in fact, turned out that way.

Consider how the job or position you once dreamed of might later become your biggest source of stress; how the person you once “loved” so intensely that you couldn’t imagine life without them might eventually become the main cause of your unhappiness. Whatever we chase your job, your relationships, your possessions, even your own body will inevitably change over time, failing to remain the vision you once held, because forms are constantly shifting and impermanent.

Therefore, let go of obsessive worries about your present circumstances and actions, about whether they are correct or incorrect, beneficial or harmful, good or bad, about results that are never fully within your control. Stop resisting the now by ruminating endlessly on such matters. Notice that you can’t consciously control even the simplest processes in your own body your heartbeat, your breathing, or the fleeting thoughts in your mind. Realize that although you may choose to act, you are not the one “making” everything happen. The only thing you can truly control is your perception of what occurs and your inner state in response, nothing more.

Feel deep trust and gratitude for life itself, for the power that willed life into being, that allows you to exist and be aware, and that has orchestrated this exact moment as it is. All existence is one, and you, at your core, are not separate from that oneness.

Recognize: as long as we are one, the most beautiful moment whatever form it takes is this one right now.

Life is not in some distant time or place.

It is now. Here.