Notice
- Dr. Christine M. Williams
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read

In my last post, I shared about the importance of the present moment. It is the place where God dwells, where relationship happens, and where ACT encourages us to return again and again as a basis of psychological well-being. But if you tried to actually stay in the present for any period of time, you probably quickly noted that it isn't easy.
Maybe your mind kept drifting during prayer. Maybe you sat down to be still and immediately felt restless, distracted, or discouraged. Maybe you found yourself caught in memories or worries that pulled you right out of the moment.
You’re not alone.
In the 47 minutes it took me to sit down and write those two paragraphs I was everywhere from the conference I went to yesterday to my friend's birthday party next weekend to the Instagram post my husband sent to searching Taylor Swift lyrics.
Our Brains Are Wired for Elsewhere
Or, It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) gives us language for what we all experience: the brain of a human being is a problem-solving work of art. It’s constantly scanning for threats, anticipating what could go wrong, or replaying the past to make sure we have learned the lessons we need to avoid future pain.
It also possesses an ability which no other species' brain has. It has the ability to form complex visions of the future, both from the information in the here and now and from nothing but our imagination.
From an evolutionary and psychological perspective, this design makes sense. This contributes to our survival, including watching out for danger and planning for success. But these same functions can make keeping our attention in the present moment feel like a struggle.
Saints Struggled Too
St. Teresa of Ávila once joked that her mind was like “a wild horse” in prayer. St. Thérèse of Lisieux admitted falling asleep while trying to stay focused on God. The desert fathers and mothers spoke often of distractions in solitude. Even St. Paul wrote, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15).
These saints didn’t despair over their wandering attention but understood prayer, contemplation, and even the whole of Christian life as a process. They brought their struggles back to God with humility. They opened themselves up to grace. And that is the invitation to us: not perfection, but practice and persistence.
Failure Is Part of the Process
Catholic spirituality offers this liberating truth: failing at something is not the end of the story. It means you’re human. God so anticipates our mistakes that one of our seven Sacraments is based on it. This is what the Church has always called conversion, a continual turning back to God.
I was at a conference this month where I heard the most piercing description of what it means to not want to fail, to not accept that we have not arrived and are still on a journey in this life. Fr. Columba Jordan, CFR proposed that to "despise the journey, the journey of being human, the journey of growing" is to despise being human. But it might be hard to conceive of God loving us and looking on us with compassion as we try and try again. But that is how it is.
That is very different than claiming our errors don't matter, or failing to address the impact of our actions, or that they aren't problematic at all. But what if we took a stance of compassion towards our development and saw it as a process of growth we are called to, and not an absolute failing.
A Simple Practice: Notice–Name–Return
In the spiritual life, every time you notice you’ve drifted, you’ve already succeeded. You’ve woken up. And you get to return. The same is true for this part of ACT: the present moment is not a place we achieve once and for all. It’s a place we practice returning to.
Try this throughout your day, especially in prayer or stillness:
Notice – When your mind wanders or emotions swell, simply become aware.
Name – Gently name what’s happening: “I’m worrying about tomorrow,” “I’m feeling restless,” “My mind is busy.”
Return – Breathe. Recenter. Come back to the moment, however it is. A simple prayer like “Jesus, be my now” can help.
This rhythm mirrors both ACT’s present-moment skills and the call to ongoing conversion in our faith. There is no final failure here, only an invitation to begin again, which is the heart of both healing and holiness.