I watched my one-year-old niece rip the wrapping paper from her birthday presents yesterday.

Like most one-year-olds she probably wasn’t thinking about where her next meal was coming from. She wasn’t thinking about if she needed to brush her hair or what she would do later that day or next week.

Instead she was completely in the moment and was just ripping up paper with her Dad.

Unlike my niece, I often find it difficult to be in the moment. It’s a practice I’m seeking to perfect but I often fall short.

Instead my mind is often full of what seems like a hundred trivial and not so trivial thoughts. Often none of them will have any relevance to the task at hand. This means I become a little spatially unaware and do silly things like walk into walls or suddenly find myself unable to reverse park my car effectively because I’m not really concentrating on what I’m doing. My head is somewhere else thinking about what I’m going to eat for dinner, etc.

But there are moments when I feel completely present and these give me a unique sense of peace and stillness that is invaluable. To be completely present is like a gift from the Divine because in that precious moment or two it’s like you are seeing things for the first time. The light is sharper, your breath is more even and the sky is more blue. You experience things more clearly and everything is a lot simpler.

Instead of worrying about how you’re going to pay the bills, you are noticing the beautiful rainbow colours in the soap bubbles as you wash the dishes.

Or you will feel the soft spikiness of the grass under your feet as you walk across your lawn and breathe in the coolness of the morning air.

It’s in these moments that we can truly appreciate our existence on this planet and also gain perspective on what is important.

Most of us have bills to pay and responsibilities. But, when you live in the moment and just do what you need to do at that point in time, things become a lot simpler and our stress levels diminish.

And by concentrating on just one thing, you will usually complete tasks more efficiently too.

So it’s a win, win.

But being present is a challenge because we’re not raised to just be present. Our culture teaches us to multi-task, to think ahead and plan, plan, plan.

These are useful qualities but we need to make space for being present too.

Being present will help you connect with you. It will also help you step away from stress, anxiety and worry.

In turn, you will feel more peace and tranquility in your life.

And, in my case, I’ll stop walking into walls and will be able to park my car.