Why Dogs Live in the Moment (and Humans Don't)

Dogs live in the moment because their attention system is built for now; humans ruminate because ours is built for later. That's the short answer — and it's the one thing most "live in the moment" advice leaves out.

What's actually going on in a dog's head

Dogs experience time very differently from humans. Their senses — especially smell — are tuned to what is happening right now: who just walked past, what's in the trash, whether dinner smells imminent. A dog has no mental time machine. It cannot re-run this morning's scolding or pre-suffer Thursday's vet appointment.

Humans can, and we do — constantly. Psychologists estimate that a large share of human thought is spent rehashing the past or rehearsing the future. We pay for our planning ability with background anxiety that dogs simply never carry.

What dogs do instead of worrying

• Sleep until something happens. A dog's default state is rest, not dread.
• Greet every arrival like a ceremony. No dog has ever been "too busy" for a reunion.
• Eat like the bowl matters. Full attention on the meal. Not the phone. Not the news. The bowl.
• Reset fast. A dog can go from offended to delighted in under a minute. The grudge module was never installed.

How to steal the trick

You cannot delete your ability to worry, but you can borrow the dog's method: when you notice your mind has left the present, return your attention to something sensory — your breath, a sound, the actual taste of your food. Dogs anchor to smell and sound; you can anchor to whatever your senses are reporting right now. Mindfulness training in every tradition is, at heart, this one move repeated.

Coco's take: "Only the now has the chicken." The complete teachings are in the book, and his gratitude-based practices are in what dogs teach us about gratitude.