Henri Nouwen Quotes

Only one person in a thousand knows the trick of really living in the present. Most of us spend fifty-nine minutes an hour living in the past, with regret for lost joys or shame for things badly done (both utterly useless and weakening) or in a future which we either long for or dread. . . . There is only one minute in which you are alive, this minute, here and now. The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle. Which is exactly what it is-a miracle and unrepeatable.

All the happiness and fulfillment that humans yearn for exists in the present moment.

My friend, the sufi is the friend of the present moment. To say tomorrow is not our way.

Every moment of your experience is the peak of life experience. This is where your powerful now is.

I like to live in the present.

Everyone wants to look to the future and into the past. I stay focused on now.

Presence is when you're no longer waiting for the next moment, believing that the next moment will be more fulfilling than this one.

I'd like to be the sort of person who can enjoy things at the time, instead of having to go back in my head and enjoy them.

If we know that we are now at the point where we have always wanted to be, we will be there. . . because we are never there but always here, now!

We all spend so much time worrying about the future that the present moment slips right out of our hands. And so all we have left is retrospection and anticipation, retrospection and anticipation. In which case what's left to recall but past anticipation? What's left to anticipate but future retrospection?

To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.

If we spend our time with regrets over yesterday, and worries over what might happen tomorrow, we have no today in which to live.

You have no choice but to live in the present, if you're really being open to events and people as they come along.

The present moment is the only moment available to us and it is the door to all other moments.

Work to recognize the primary importance of the present moment.

Let's have a merry journey, and shout about how light is good and dark is not. What we should do is not future ourselves so much. We should now ourselves. "Now thyself" is more important than "know thyself." Reason is what tells us to ignore the present and live in the future. So all we do is make plans. We think that somewhere there are going to be green pastures. It's crazy. Heaven is nothing but a grand, monumental instance of future. Listen, now is good. Now is wonderful.

We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are.

Don't wait to be successful at some future point. Have a successful relationship with the present moment and be fully present in whatever you are doing. That is success.

I am a person who likes to be in the present.

I've found a way to live in the here and now.

But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time.

Die to the past every moment. You don't need it. Only refer to it when it is absolutely relevant to the present. Feel the power of this moment and the fullness of Being. Feel your presence.

Practice being in the present. Do what you're doing 100%.

Who wants to live in the present? It's such a limiting period compared to the past.

I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now.