There's plenty that can keep us locked in the past or fixated on the future, anywhere but the present.

Some of you are asking (especially on Facebook) if it's really possible to live intentionally, here and now in the midst our busy lives--in a traffic jam, working in a chaotic office, tending a pair of screaming infants, arguing a case in a crowded courtroom. Can we do it late in life when our minds feel a bit more like sieves, and our old habits seem hard to break?

Yes, we can. In any place and at any age we can wake up to the gift of each moment.

That said, there are forces at work in us that keep us everywhere but the present. And we must be honest about them.

We try to sit still. We seek God in wordless prayer. We try to focus on one task as we sit at our computers. We try to be present before the one we love but our brains think they're a Twitter account with 10,000 friends--a new tweet arrives with each new moment and we can't seem to resist a quick glance.

If you can't stay in the present, congratulations, you're part of the human race.

You're not weak.
You're not spiritually inferior.
And you don't lack that prayer-gene that your friend seemed get in spades.

Welcome to the journey. Learning to live in the present is gonna take some work.