Jeff Foster spent much of his early life—including the period he studied astrophysics at the University of Cambridge—consumed with self-loathing, illness, and depression. Following an intense spiritual search that led him to embrace "all this, here and now," Jeff has become a well-respected teacher and writer. With Sounds True, Jeff has most recently published the spoken-word audio offering Sacred as You Are: Depression as a Call to Spiritual Awakening. In this excerpt from that program, Jeff suggests that a total embrace of the present moment—the only moment that we ever truly engage with—is the first step in accepting suffering. In the words of Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute, "Jeff isn't trying to teach anyone how to be happy or how to awaken because he says there isn't a problem that needs to be fixed. You're perfect as you are right now—including all the self-judgments, fears, desires, and perceived problems you have in this moment."