0 Being present makes a difference

Published in The Edinboro Spectator: Sept. 20, 2012

Eight years ago, when I was in high school back in Philly, I had an English teacher named Mr. Brown, who always used a famous quotation that stuck with me.  It seemed that almost every day he’d tell us “Always remember: Wherever you go, there you are”.

Now at first, being a young high school student, I thought to myself, “What the heck does that even mean?”

But today, as a grad student, getting closer and closer to being in “the real world” it makes more sense than ever.

To me, that quote can be summed up in two words, “Be present.”

Now when I say “be present”, I don’t mean just “showing up” or just “being there” because these days it seems that people can be in one place physically, but be in a totally different place mentally. I’m talking about putting full focus into absolutely everything that we do.

We all seen people who haven’t learned how to be fully present, like people go to college physically, but live with a high school mentality, or the person who goes to class on Friday, but spends all 50 minutes of class with his/her mind on the party on Saturday.

Kudos, young scholar.

One problem is that we often we get caught up in a mindset of anticipation, where we constantly tell ourselves, “I can’t wait until this happens”  or “Once I go here everything will be fine” and we forget to focus on being present in the present.

We also have to realize that another thing which inhibits many people from being present is the world of distractions in which we live. We have smartphones that can do almost everything besides cook our breakfast, we have addictive social networking sites, we get non-stop text and emails, and we also live in celebrity-obsessed culture in which we focus on the lives of people that we don’t even know.

But it seems that the more that we try to get connected to the rest of the world, the more we fail to connect with ourselves and the world that exists right in front of us.

One of my favorite examples of someone who know how to be fully present is NBA player, Kobe Bryant. When the LA Lakers play, whether he’s out on the court, taking a rest on the bench, or he’s injured, his mind is on nothing but the game.

I remember watching one game last season where comedian, Chris Rock, was on the Lakers bench and awkwardly found out about Kobe’s focus.

In the middle of the game, The Lakers had a comfortable lead and Kobe was resting on the bench. Chris Rock, who sat two seats down from Kobe, attempted to tell him a joke while he was watching the game.

The TV cameras caught the moment perfectly, Chris Rock slightly leaned over to Kobe and went on for about 20 seconds telling a joke which was inaudible to TV viewers. But, Kobe, who was sitting inches away from Rock and obviously within earshot of him, didn’t even look at Rock nor acknowledge his joke.

As awkward as that moment might have been for Chris Rock, (who played the moment off well by laughing and turning away), anyone who understands how intense Kobe’s focus is, understood his reaction.

When someone is fully present and focused, anything that doesn’t have to do with the task at hand is seen as irrelevant.

This should serve as a lesson to what we have to do as college students, administrators, professors, and just as human beings in general, we have to know how to become fully engrossed in what we’re doing in order for us to be effective at what we’re doing.

In our jobs, our classes, our relationships, and in our lives, we have to master the art of being present and being focused, because just “being there” isn’t enough.

As my old English teacher, Mr. Brown would say, “Always remember: Everywhere you go, there you are.”