True confessions: I constantly struggle with the notion of living in the present, a mindset The Grass Roots embraced in their classic-rock hit “Let’s Live for Today.”

As much as sage after sage has touted such advice, I’ve always had a soft spot for the future. I’d rather dream about tomorrow than muck around in the messy morass of the here and now. Being a compulsive planner by temperament, I get a burst of adrenaline every time I make plans. Ah, the excitement of anticipation! After all, wanting is a more powerful emotion than having.

My infatuation with the future notwithstanding, I couldn’t help but adore “Let’s Live for Today” when the song came out in 1967. With its infectious ”sha-la-la-la-la-la” chorus, preceded by the count of “one, two, three, four,” it quickly became one of my all-time favorite earworms. The first verse played to my hippie sensibilities with its talk about senselessly chasing after money. Instead, we should just love each other. Who could argue with that?

About 30 years later, I learned that The Grass Roots were coming to western Massachusetts. Feeling like a teenybopper fan girl, I set out with my husband, Fred, for a local fair with an aw-shucks, hill-town feel, a definite come-down from the big venues the band played in its prime. As Fred and I set down our lawn chairs, the group sounded less tight than I’d remembered from their records. Something about the members’ party-happy demeanor rubbed me the wrong way. Instead of basking in vibes from the Summer of Love, I felt like I’d fallen off a steep cliff into the Me Decade of the ‘70s. Let’s all be selfish and greedy. Forget about the consequences. Who cares about tomorrow, anyway?

Well, I, for one, certainly did! I started grousing to poor Fred that the band’s brand of mindless hedonism set the stage for the apocalypse.

Shortly after that, one of Fred’s brothers recommended a book called “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle. Thinking that maybe I’d been too much of a party-pooper about The Grass Roots, I tried to read the recommended title, but my eyes glazed over from all the woo-woo lingo about how we’re too attached to our minds and should, instead, be seeking enlightenment.

Fast forward to several years later. A deadly disease had eaten away at Fred’s magnificent mind, and I’d developed an identity for myself as The Single Dog Lady in Search of Wisdom. More open to Eastern philosophies, I decided to give “The Power of Now” another look and “Let’s Live for Today” a fresh listen.

As I revisited “The Power of Now,” I sighed with relief upon reading the author’s nod to the future. Tolle writes that there’s nothing wrong with setting goals and striving to achieve things as long as we’re not substituting them for a life of Being.

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Nevertheless, his tone struck me as a tad too preachy. Just as I was about to give up on the book for good, I remembered a famous haiku about a snail that climbs Mount Fuji.

If a slug could be undeterred from a monumental task, so could I. In my desperate quest for wisdom before I croak, I didn’t want to be outdone by some slimy invertebrate!

So, I forced myself to dig through the book for a nugget or two to use in my mundane, everyday life. Ding. Ding. Ding. I found just the inspiring quote I was looking for in: “How is always more important than what.”

If there is no “joy, ease, or lightness” in what we are doing, Tolle writes, changing up how we’re doing it can make all the difference. Another helpful tidbit: “Live fully in your senses.”

Speaking of senses, time had come for me to transition from my eyes to my ears. As Alexa played “Let’s Live for Today,” I felt my judgmental mind slip away and feasted on pure ear candy. That’s what the best pieces of music do. They put us in the zone, where nothing else exists. Yes, there’s something to be said for living in the present.

Even so, I still have my doubts about favoring one element of time over another. Why, for instance, say morning is better than afternoon or evening when, instead, we can find value in all three?

Just as we might categorize ourselves as morning larks or night owls, I’m still a gal partial to the future. However, this exercise of revisiting a book and song has helped me be more open to fans of living in the present.

We can all crack open those doorways we’ve shut behind to let in the light. Give it a try, and you, too, might feel like the snail that climbs Mount Fuji.

Joan Axelrod-Contrada is a writer who lives in Florence and is working on a collection of essays, “Rock On: A Baby Boomer’s Playlist for Life after Loss.” Reach her at joanaxelrodcontrada@gmail.com.