Back in the days before railways came along and connected up the world, it was very easy for people to spend their entire lives in a ten-mile radius of the village in which they were born. There were no distractions because there was no electricity. Good quality candles were expensive, and firewood could run out. When the sun went down, you really were stuck where you were: in the dark. Reading, playing an instrument, traveling, listening to music, and so on were all non-options. Thus, being present wasn't really optional. You had to be present wherever you were because there was absolutely no way around it. Even if you had a good imagination since you'd never seen anywhere that wasn't just like the place you came from, you really were up against it if you wanted to build a different sort of place in your mind and drift off.

These days, we have the opposite problem. There are constant distractions. We live in noisy cities full of beeping, roaring, humming machines, and devices. Our phones are rarely silent and hardly ever more than a few feet away. Our workplaces demand our attention constantly. Staying present is a great way to counter the insanity. Do you know how to do it?