Being present is often described as having your attention on what's happening in the present moment. But there's more to it and less to it than that...

'Present' is whatever is happening moment to moment, prior to your habitual thinking.

Our experience of life is inherently clear, fulfilling and involving when there's nothing else in the way. What gets in the way is our habitual patterns of contaminated thinking. For example:

• A person can be in a situation they might normally describe as wonderful, but be having an experience that is stressed, anxious or miserable because they've got something on their mind. An all-too-common example of this is when people go on holiday. They can be in the most beautiful environment, with the people they most want to be with, but they find their work has come on holiday with them, thanks to their habitual patterns of thinking.
• By the same token, a person can be in a situation they might normally describe as boring or miserable, but be having an experience that is rich, fulfilling and profound because they've got nothing on their mind. I sometimes enjoy sitting by the ocean, looking out at the waves for 20 or 30 minutes at a time.Twenty years ago, I would have had enough of it after two minutes and felt bored and distracted if I had to stay there. But because I have less on my mind these days, the experience of the waves is rich, absorbing and engaging except when it's not .