Being in the now is like lucid dreaming. It is about being less caught up in the story of your life and being able to experience it more deeply. Colors look brighter and objects appear more defined. Everything is more vivid in general. The trick to doing it is to identify the ways you use to distract yourself from what is going on, and this leads to doing them less often. It isn't something you make yourself do; becoming conscious of something that is done unconsciously is enough that even if you keep using a tactic - if you are conscious of it - it stops working. It is a very gradual process. There will be a lot of resistance involved, because distraction is meant to protect you and you are undermining that protection. The thing about it is that part of you doesn't realize that this sort of protection isn't necessary; it just keeps doing it. Along the way if you can find other ways to feel safe, it will be easier to give up distractions as unnecessary.