--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There's a desire for me in the work, even…" description: "\"There's a desire for me in the work, even when I'm looking at the past, to be looking from the present. It's to be here now. It's looking in the presen..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/229/zoe-leonard-19708_be-here-now_there-s-a-desire-for-me-in-the-work-even_161398.jpg" --- # There's a desire for me in the work, even when I'm looking… ![“There's a desire for me in the work, even when I'm looking at the past, to be looking from the present. It's to be here now. It's looking in the present tense.” quote by Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/229/zoe-leonard-19708_be-here-now_there-s-a-desire-for-me-in-the-work-even_161398.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/229/zoe-leonard-19708_be-here-now_there-s-a-desire-for-me-in-the-work-even_161398.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/229/zoe-leonard-19708_be-here-now_there-s-a-desire-for-me-in-the-work-even_161398.jpg) > “There's a desire for me in the work, even when I'm looking at the past, to be looking from the present. It's to be here now. It's looking in the present tense.” [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker seeks to experience the present fully, using past reflections to inform current awareness. **In simple terms:** Live in the now while learning from the past. Key Takeaway Practice mindfulness anchored in present experience. Themes mindfulness temporal awareness reflection presence Mood contemplative thoughtful Type poetic reflective When to use this quote - creative work - personal growth - daily routines Key Concepts present-centeredness temporal integration Questions to Reflect On - How does past knowledge enhance present awareness? - What practices help maintain present focus? A Different Perspective Focusing solely on the present may ignore valuable lessons from history. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Looking at the past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/looking-at-the-past/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Present tense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/present-tense/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work/) ## Related quotes > [My last defense / Is the present tense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/my-last-defense-is-the-present-tense/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [Almost by definition, secularism cannot be a future: it's a present-tense culture that over time disconnects a society from cross-generational purpose. Which is why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-steyn/almost-by-definition-secularism-cannot-be-a-future-it-s-a-present-2/) [Mark Steyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-steyn/) > [A money-lender--he serves you in the present tense; he lends you in the conditional mood; keeps you in the conjunctive; and ruins you in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/a-money-lender-he-serves-you-in-the-present-tense-he-lends-you-in-the/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [I love you present tense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-love-you-present-tense/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“To remember was an act not of excavation but of self-creation in the present tense.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-secor/to-remember-was-an-act-not-of-excavation-but-of-self-creation-in-the/) Laura Secor > [“Oh God, Alaska, I love you. I love you," and the Colonel whispered, "I'm so sorry, Pudge. I know you did," and I said,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/oh-god-alaska-i-love-you-i-love-you-and-the-colonel-whispered-i-m-so/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“For children, childhood is timeless. It is always the present. Everything is in the present tense. Of course, they have memories. Of course, time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/for-children-childhood-is-timeless-it-is-always-the-present/) [Ian McEwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/) > [“Sometimes I would have to take my glasses off simply so the world would smudge and recede for a moment and cease to seem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hanya-yanagihara/sometimes-i-would-have-to-take-my-glasses-off-simply-so-the-world/) [Hanya Yanagihara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hanya-yanagihara/) > [“When we talk about literature, we do so in the present tense. When we speak of the dead, we are not so kind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/when-we-talk-about-literature-we-do-so-in-the-present-tense-when-we/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [The past is something for you to learn from and the future is something that you hope is going to happen, but I'm always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katt-williams/the-past-is-something-for-you-to-learn-from-and-the-future-is/) [Katt Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katt-williams/) > [Chronocanine Envy: Sadness experienced when one realized that, unlike one's dog, one cannot live only in the present tense. As Kierkegaard said, "Life must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/chronocanine-envy-sadness-experienced-when-one-realized-that-unlike/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [And the first till last alshemist wrote over every square inch of the only foolscap available, his own body, till by its corrosive sublimation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/and-the-first-till-last-alshemist-wrote-over-every-square-inch-of-the/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) > [Life is like a grammar lesson. You find the past perfect and the present tense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/life-is-like-a-grammar-lesson-you-find-the-past-perfect-and-the/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [“That’s probably the worst thing about death. Is turns into was. Everything that was once present tense is now in the past.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caleb-reese/that-s-probably-the-worst-thing-about-death-is-turns-into-was/) [Caleb Reese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caleb-reese/) > [Hope requires a very careful symbolization. It must not be expressed too fully in the present tense because hope one can touch and handle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-brueggemann/hope-requires-a-very-careful-symbolization-it-must-not-be-expressed/) [Walter Brueggemann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-brueggemann/) ## More by Zoe Leonard > [I was really poor for most of my adult life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/i-was-really-poor-for-most-of-my-adult-life/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [I really loved music and went to a lot of clubs to see bands and dance. I loved going out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/i-really-loved-music-and-went-to-a-lot-of-clubs-to-see-bands-and/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [Progress is always an exchange. We gain something, we give something else up. I'm interested in looking at some of what we are losing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/progress-is-always-an-exchange-we-gain-something-we-give-something/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [I don't quite understand how a generation and a half after the Second World War we've gotten where we are now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/i-don-t-quite-understand-how-a-generation-and-a-half-after-the-second/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [I choose to work behind the camera. And I kind of want to make the work and then run away. The presentation of myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/i-choose-to-work-behind-the-camera-and-i-kind-of-want-to-make-the/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [I'm in all of my work, and there's nowhere to hide when you make work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/i-m-in-all-of-my-work-and-there-s-nowhere-to-hide-when-you-make-work/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [I grew up in Harlem, but I moved to the Lower East Side when I was a teenager and it was ... I feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/i-grew-up-in-harlem-but-i-moved-to-the-lower-east-side-when-i-was-a/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [After the First World War, it was, like, let's form the League of Nations, we have to learn to work together. It's the only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/after-the-first-world-war-it-was-like-let-s-form-the-league-of/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [By nature, I'm a little distractible. I get very overwhelmed by the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/by-nature-i-m-a-little-distractible-i-get-very-overwhelmed-by-the/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [Photographers talk about their shoot ratio. Like four to one, six to one, ten to one! Whatever, I'm, like, seven billion to one. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/photographers-talk-about-their-shoot-ratio-like-four-to-one-six-to/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [Something about photography is tied to a very specific relationship with the material world. It doesn't have to be, but the way I practice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/something-about-photography-is-tied-to-a-very-specific-relationship/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [What attracts me in photography is not so much a fine arts approach, but rather photographs as documents... All the ways in which human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/what-attracts-me-in-photography-is-not-so-much-a-fine-arts-approach/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [I'm always learning. I can't imagine doing anything else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/i-m-always-learning-i-can-t-imagine-doing-anything-else/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [Making work for me is being in the world, but it's also being specific about being in the world. I'm interested in this increasingly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/making-work-for-me-is-being-in-the-world-but-it-s-also-being-specific/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) > [The world feels overwhelming to me on every level. Just the number of organisms that live on this planet. Our politics, our violence, psychology,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-leonard/the-world-feels-overwhelming-to-me-on-every-level-just-the-number-of/) [Zoe Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) [Explore all 32 Zoe Leonard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-leonard/) ## More Be here now quotes > [“… but she herself embodies their greatest, most therapeutic gift: the message that we are here to be here , to go through it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-hollis/but-she-herself-embodies-their-greatest-most-therapeutic-gift-the/) [James Hollis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-hollis/) > [A mind that wants to wander around a corner is an un-wise mind. Now, is, be here now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-harrison/a-mind-that-wants-to-wander-around-a-corner-is-an-un-wise-mind-now-is/) [George Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-harrison/) > [“Belief - Yang Doubt - Yin? Or the Middle Way of pure direct experience of Now prior to belief or doubt…”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leland-lewis/belief-yang-doubt-yin-or-the-middle-way-of-pure-direct-experience-of/) [Leland Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leland-lewis/) > [“No one has ever done this before. No one has ever been you before. This exact interrelated web of people and events and places…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/no-one-has-ever-done-this-before-no-one-has-ever-been-you-before-this/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [Be here now. It keeps us in a place of love, not fear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alysia-reiner/be-here-now-it-keeps-us-in-a-place-of-love-not-fear/) [Alysia Reiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alysia-reiner/) > [We were born ahead of our time. Don't forget that the riot-grrl scene had a lot to do with making The Slits a legend,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ari-up/we-were-born-ahead-of-our-time-don-t-forget-that-the-riot-grrl-scene/) [Ari Up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ari-up/) > [“Our mind cannot be freed into the present moment while we are caged by the illusion of multitasking.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/our-mind-cannot-be-freed-into-the-present-moment-while-we-are-caged/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [“Those who live in a state of survival just watching their lives pass them by do not understand the power of living each day…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germany-kent/those-who-live-in-a-state-of-survival-just-watching-their-lives-pass/) [Germany Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germany-kent/) > [The way you come to fully appreciate the infusion of the Spirit is to more and more come fully into the moment, where this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ram-dass/the-way-you-come-to-fully-appreciate-the-infusion-of-the-spirit-is-to/) [Ram Dass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ram-dass/) > [“A moment is indeed all one could ever ask for from perfection; but if you live fully and love with all your heart and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felisa-tan/a-moment-is-indeed-all-one-could-ever-ask-for-from-perfection-but-if/) [Felisa Tan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felisa-tan/) > [The purpose of meditation is to create focus. It is about focusing your attention on your experience. The reason for focus: it allows you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neale-donald-walsch/the-purpose-of-meditation-is-to-create-focus-it-is-about-focusing/) [Neale Donald Walsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neale-donald-walsch/) > [“Someone grabbed his coat Again, he stops his journey To be there with her”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-overby/someone-grabbed-his-coat-again-he-stops-his-journey-to-be-there-with/) [Eric Overby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-overby/) > [Your memories are eroding away. The futures you anticipate, will mostly not come to pass, and the real richness is in the moment. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/your-memories-are-eroding-away-the-futures-you-anticipate-will-mostly/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Remember, Be Here Now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ram-dass/remember-be-here-now/) [Ram Dass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ram-dass/) > [They used us as an excuse to go mad and then blamed it on us. Gandhi says create and preserve the image of your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-harrison/they-used-us-as-an-excuse-to-go-mad-and-then-blamed-it-on-us-gandhi/) [George Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-harrison/) Browse all 69 Be here now quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There's a desire for me in the work, even when I'm looking at the past, to be looking from the present. It's to be here now. 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