The only moment to be alive

We tend to be alive in the future, not now.
We say, "Wait until I finish school and get my Ph.D. degree,
and then I will be really alive."

When we have it, and it wasn't easy to get, we say to ourselves,
"I have to wait until I have a job in order to be really alive."
And then after the job, a car. After the car, a house.

We are not capable of being alive in the present moment.
We tend to postpone being alive to the future,
the distant future, we don't know when.

Now is not the moment to be alive.
We may never be alive at all in our entire life.
Therefore, the technique, if we have to speak of a technique,
is to be in the present moment,
    to be aware that we are here and now,
        and the only moment to be alive is the present moment.

                                    Thích Nhất Hạnh, Being Peace