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There is a great misunderstanding about living in the now, based on John Bachman’s guest editorial of December 22. We can only assume John has adopted the sound bites from people who have not read and studied the subject.

We live in the now and are avid readers and followers of Eckhart Tolle, Wayne Dyer and James Arthur Ray. We even own our personal copy of “The Secret.”

When Oprah Winfrey hosted the worldwide live webcast with Tolle to discuss his book, “A New Earth,” our family room was packed for 10 weeks with our friends.

Living in the now does not preclude planning, setting goals or pondering one’s future. In fact, living in the now is enriched by planning for the future. We experienced a “Harmonic Wealth” weekend with James Arthur Ray in Chicago and spent all of our time understanding the potential of our future and setting action to our goals. But when it came time for the moment, James was in it, totally focused on what was going on around him.

Contrary to the opinion of many, living in the now does not mean sitting under a tree until your dreams fall from the sky and land in your lap. Rather it is setting clear goals and then being present so you can be aware and open to opportunities when your intentions are knocking on your door. How many times have we heard about the person so focused on the future they did not see that what was happening right before their eyes was their dream come true, only in a slightly different form than imagined? They missed achieving their goals because they were never in the moment.

Perhaps the current onslaught of crises is not caused by living in the moment as John contends. Instead of being anywhere close to the present moment, people live in a future reality counting their pile of cash.

What CEO or business person does not know about planning and setting goals? What newscast has occurred without planning? We all know how to plan.

Those in the throes of the financial debacle and political corruption are perhaps not conscious of their actions and refuse to wake up and smell the roses. If we are present, we are aware of our actions.

After setting our intentions, we will continue to live in the present. For if we are not in the moment, how else can we be accountable for our actions? Actions happen now. For when the future arrives, it is now.

Rob Smith and Sandi Smith are married; Rob is a partner at Architects Smith Metzger.

The Business Record welcomes guest opinions on topics of interest to the Central Iowa business community. To submit a piece for consideration, contact the editor at jimpollock@bpcdm.com.