Where Our Feet Are

August 23, 2026

Sometimes we become so focused on where our attention has gone that we stop noticing where our feet are.

There have been tragic stories of people walking while looking at their phones, unaware of what was directly in front of them. There have also been people so intent on taking the perfect photograph or selfie that they moved closer and closer to danger without realizing it.

One more step backward.

A slightly better angle.

A little more of the scenery in the frame.

Until there was no more ground.

There is something deeply sad about that image.

Someone can be standing before an extraordinary landscape, surrounded by mountains, ocean, sky, or some other breathtaking view, and yet experience most of it through the small screen held in front of them.

The moment becomes something to capture rather than something to inhabit.

But perhaps this is not only about phones or photographs.

We can become preoccupied with many things.

We can be so busy thinking about tomorrow that we barely notice today.

We can spend a vacation worrying about the work waiting for us when we return.

We can sit with someone we love while our thoughts are somewhere else.

We can become so absorbed in where we are going that we stop noticing where we are.

Sometimes our bodies are present while our attention is not.

There is nothing wrong with taking photographs. There is nothing wrong with making plans, remembering yesterday, or thinking about tomorrow. The problem comes when somewhere else receives so much of our attention that we disappear from the place where life is actually happening.

Perhaps presence is not something complicated.

Sometimes it is simply remembering to look up.

To notice the person sitting across from us.

To feel the breeze.

To see the sky without immediately reaching for a camera.

To hear what someone is saying without preparing our response.

To notice where we are standing.

Life does not always announce when we have wandered away from it.

There may be no warning sign telling us that our attention has gone too far ahead, too far behind, or too deeply into something else.

Sometimes we have to notice for ourselves.

To look around.

To come back.

To remember where our feet are.

Because while our minds can travel almost anywhere, our lives are always happening here.