Living in the Moment

Rabbi Harvey Belovski examines the benefits of living in the moment and concentrating on the needs of the now. He highlights the importance of accepting and understanding the future’s unpredictable nature.

Harvey considers the value of mindfulness as a way of encouraging people to pay attention to the present, reducing stress and improving mental wellbeing. He explains that spirituality is often misperceived as venerating the past, or aspiring towards the future. While it’s important to do so, identity and meaning can also be found in the present.

Harvey reads a prayer that imagines God reviewing the performance of every human being. The prayer has a simple and plaintive message: no-one knows whether they will be alive this time tomorrow, let alone further into the future. The importance of appreciating the present, then, becomes clear. According to legend, the prayer was written by Rabbi Amnon, who composed it as he lay dying, having been tortured for his refusal to abandon his faith.

Rabbi Harvey also considers the relationship between living in the moment and caring for one’s self. While it’s important to be fully present for others, what’s more important, according to Harvey is to attend to one’s own needs. This in turn leads to being better at living in the moment for others.

Presenter: Harvey Belovski
Producer: Oliver Seymour
A TBI production for BBC Radio 4