I dreamed that life was joy. I woke to find that life is service. I discovered that service is joy.

wisdom from the earthchanges Archive:

We would like to offer you one last idea to chew on, to work out and make
your own. Why do we, and many other metaphysical sources, focus so much on
"being in the Now"? There are so many levels to each concept, dear ones.
Superficially, you are asked to keep your awareness focused on what is going
on around you. That is so you may keep all of your energies converged on a
point of focus, rather than scattered as people normally are. Those mental
loops that capture your attention, old fights and frustrations, current
worries and future fears, all take so much energy that you cannot be in the
Now until you break those negative mind habits. Those loops take you from
your conscious mind into the subconscious, where all your faulty belief
systems are programmed. Yes, you can be driving down the road and replaying
an old argument in your head with so-and-so. Or you can drive and be
enjoying the trip, the weather, the flowers, and looking forward to where
you are going.

All of those negative loops cause your body chemistry to shift into a less
effective state. Get angry at your mother-in-law, though she died five years
ago, and your body chemistry will be adversely affected for six hours. Find
a happy focus for your awareness, and you boost that same body chemistry
into higher function for six hours. Until you have created better mental
habits, you will constantly see-saw back and forth emotionally. This will
not allow you to access and sustain a higher physical vibration!

So, a simple phrase like "being in the Now" has many layers of meaning. Yes,
you could even assign it physical, emotional, mental and spiritual meanings!
(Chuckles.)

At the physical level, it means keeping your conscious awareness and all of
your senses focused on the current moment. At the emotional level, it means
a conscious choice that you make to pick lighter, brighter, happier
feelings, and disallow negative feelings to take control. At the mental
level, it means both training your awareness to remain present, (rather than
dwelling on past or future) and choosing a higher perspective from which to
view all that is happening around you. At the spiritual level, it means
appreciating all that is around you as being perfect, a second-by-second
gift of life from Creator Source.

--Brotherhood of Light