When I go out my door each morning, the first thing I do is draw a deep breath of appreciation for the gift of a new day.

Then I say a prayer that I make good use of the day at hand.

I know the way to do that is to fully live the day moment by moment. That means I concentrate with all my senses on unwrapping with great appreciation the new day.

I feel the breeze and delight in the physical changes before me. I think it’s amazing that it’s the same sky we see every day but each morning the sky has a different look.

It’s not true that the sky is always blue. Sometimes when the cloud formation is just right the sky is moody shades of mauve. Sometimes the sun outlines the clouds, just like a child with a coloring book. And sometimes the beauty of clouds and sky stop me in my tracks so I can thank the creator for his wondrous work.

But the truth is my endeavor to just live the moment in front of me doesn’t last long.

Sometimes what I call my monkey brain keeps jumping away from the present moment. Instead, I get caught up in thinking about something that’s plaguing me or something I must do.

Sometimes I’m only thinking about what I’m going to have for breakfast when I finish my walk.

While I can tie the thought of breakfast into an appreciation for the bounty of food, sometimes my mind slips to thoughts that are thoroughly unproductive.

I find myself worrying about how to get my insurance company to respond. The next thing I know I start worrying that no one will respond.

That, my dear friends, is where I go wrong, letting my appreciation of beauty and the new day change into worrying about what MIGHT happen.

Almost every time the thing I worried “might happen” never does. Yet, I wasted the time I spent fretting about it.

When my doctor said he I had to have a cystoscope where he would insert a camera inside me I spent a lot of time worrying about how painful it would be and how much discomfort I would have afterward. In reality, there was no pain or discomfort and I wasted all the time I spent worrying.

What bothers me most about it is that the time I spent fretting about it could have moments of great pleasure for me.

For many months I have been working on worrying and fretting less. I’m doing much, much better.

But what I still struggle with is living every moment in the present. Not in the future and certainly not in the past.

Staying only in the present is a lot harder than you might think.

I felt a bit better about my struggle when one expert said if you can only concentrate for a few minutes, that’s fine. If you do it a few times a day you will be gaining the benefits others might find in long concentration. Plus, the more you work at it, the easier it will become to stay in the present.

I also felt better when she said that she too has what is called a “monkey brain,” a mind that wanders all over the place instead of being mindful of the present moment.

One meditation guru noted when we are fully present in the moment, we are fully alive. “You can get in touch with the wonders of life that can nourish you and heal you,” said Thich Nhat Hanh.

The times when I most need to shut down my monkey mind are nights when I’m lying in bed unable to sleep because my mind won’t shut off.

It keeps roaming all over the place.

When I mentioned this to a group of friends, I was surprised when they, too, said they had the same problem. It got worse, they said, after the hurricane uprooted their lives.

We shared ideas to quiet an overactive mind.

My friend Jeanne and I find we sometimes can find sleep by concentrating on all our good experiences and the good we see others doing.

Take Federal Emergency Management Agency for instance. Once I saw FEMA in action here in southwest Florida I gained a new appreciation of what it does. Falling asleep thinking about the people at FEMA is helping works better than fretting about my own problems with hurricane follow-up.

We’re told that “living the moment” is simply being aware of what you are doing instead of drifting mindlessly.

There are times when I finish what was supposed to be my gratitude walk but I didn’t spend time feeling appreciative. Instead, my mind drifted all over the place.

It’s why we can drive a familiar route for an hour without being aware of anything on the trip.

Scientists clearly state spending time in the present moment - seeing and feeling everything around you - leads to greater contentment and happiness.

But it’s not easy.

It takes concentration to redirect our attention from mind wondering and distractions to what’s happening right here, right now in the present moment. Try it to see how long you can do it before your mind wanders.

Contact Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net.