We have all heard the phrase "Be Here Now." But what is the secret to living in the here and now? How can we practice this popular phrase in our daily life and not just follow the mind as it flips from the past, to the present and the future in the split of a second?

First of all, we need to remember that we are souls and that nothing is more important than uplifting the human spirit every moment. As souls, we should want to make every now, every moment, a loving moment of our existence. We do not know how many breaths we are going to breathe, but if this were our last moment in life we would want it to be the best. We would want to be loving and caring. That is how we should make every moment of our life---being our best and giving our best.

Each now is the golden chance to inspire ourselves and others, to count our blessings, and give encouragement. It is the opportunity to do positive actions and not allow ourselves to become victims of negativity. The human mind can be a channel of nature's creativity or it can be a victim of negativity and gross entanglements. It is all up to us. If we unconsciously practice being a victim, it becomes our habit. Then we lose creativity in the now. It takes alertness and practice to make the mind inspired and creative. We need to make the best use of that creativity to improve mentally and physically.

Being here now has nothing to do with the pain of the body. Even if we are not feeling good right now, we should still have good vibrations. We have to be positive in spite of any pain or affliction. We should not allow any medicines we take for sickness or pain to interfere with the creative process of being here now. We have to give ourselves the chance to heal by making every moment a healing moment. Rather than adding any infection of discouragement in the now, we should just do the actions that promote healing. Even when we are tired, we should be happy. We should retire with gratitude and happiness and wake up with freshness and inspiration.

Living in the here and now means we should not let our negative emotions and feelings spoil the now. If we carry grudges or worries in our mind, they interfere with what is going on in the now. We should never interject complaints and annoyances in the now. Instead, we should seize the opportunity to create better vibrations and better interactions with our positivity. Being here now means living in the freshness of our heart in all of our interactions in the now and all the time. Then, whoever comes in contact with us will be inspired.

With a positive and fresh outlook, we can make each now a preparation for a better next now. But, if we make now difficult, the next now is going to be even more difficult. As we do not like to eat stale food, we should not feed our mind the stale habit of negativity. We should not carry the stiffness of images of the last moment in the now. Instead, if we practice having a positive attitude now, it will become our habit to be creative and fresh in the next moment.

To live in the here and now, we cannot afford to waste time in intellectualizing or analyzing. Instead, we should take every opportunity to contribute goodness to the now. Share good energies now. Do not postpone them. Postpone projects, postpone plans, but do not postpone sharing good energy.

There should be no hint of negativity in the now, whether we are serving, conserving, or sharing. Even when we entertain ourselves, it should be creative, positive, and contributing to our life. When we are totally absorbed in the freshness of the now, our life becomes full and we have nothing to fear from boredom or negativity.

Living in the here and now is natural, and when we live positively in the now, we are blessed and prosperous. We should never give so much importance to the mundane preoccupations that we miss humanness. That is the secret of being the best we can in the now.