Imagine you are on a plane flying to New York. Once you sit down on the plane, you think, "I have to sit here for six hours before I arrive," Sitting in the plane you think only of New York, and you are not able to live the moments that are offered to you now. But it is possible for you to walk on to the plane in such a way that you enjoy every step. You don't need to arrive in New York in order to be peaceful and happy. As you walk on to the plane, every step brings you happiness, and you arrive in every moment. To arrive means to arrive somewhere. When you practice walking meditation, you arrive in every moment – you arrive at the destination of life. The present moment is a destination. Breathing in, I make a step and another step, and I tell myself, "I have arrived, I have arrived."
"I have arrived" is our practice in Plum Village. When you breathe in, you take refuge in your in-breath, and you say, "I have arrived." When you make a step, you take refuge in your step, and you say; "I have arrived." This is not a statement to yourself or another person. "I have arrived" means I have stopped running. I have arrived in the present moment, because only the present moment contains life. When I breathe in and take refuge in my in-breath., I touch life deeply. When I take a step and I take refuge entirely in my step, I also touch life deeply; and by doing so I stop running. Stopping running is a very important practice. We have been running all our life. We believe that peace, happiness, and success are present in some other place and time. We don't know that everything – peace, happiness, and stability – should be looked for in the here and the now. This is the address of life – the intersection of here and now.
— Thich Nhat Hanh in Peace Begins Here