The Challenge - Live In The Present

How many of us actually live one day at a time? I am not talking about the irresponsible notion of not planning and accounting for the possibility of tomorrow, but I mean living today like it is the only day that matters?

I was reading this morning in Pascal's Penseé #47, which says:

"We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we have found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up, or we recall the past as if to stay its too rapid flight. We are so unwise that we wander about in times that do not belong to us, and do not think of the only one that does; so vain that we dream of times that are not and blindly flee the only one that is...

Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so."

If the present is all you have, does it change how you make decisions? Does it mean that you are reckless and don't plan for the future?

For me, I think this means doing something important every day. I read an anecdote from Steve Jobs a while back where he says he asks himself every morning if the work he is getting ready to do that day is important. If it isn't, he adapts and changes to ensure he does not string together multiple days of doing things that don't matter.

I am not sure I fully grasp the concept of living only in the present. As part of my More And Less List for this year, I hope to get closer to what this actually means.

What do you think it means to live in the present? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?