Here are 6 powerful tips to embrace mindfulness and live in the moment. The only reality is the present moment. It is said that the moment we are in is the only thing that really exists. Being present refers to being in a state of mindful awareness. As the saying goes yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift.
Licensed therapist Steph Tuazon, LCSW says, “Being present means slowing down, bringing awareness to the moment that’s currently happening versus engaging in the unrelated thoughts that may appear. We are constantly processing information that we’re seeing, feeling, thinking. It’s easy to have our attention split between the three and get lost in thought.”
Why is being in the present moment so challenging?
Our monkey mind is constantly running back and forth from the past to the present and the future.
It isn’t an unnatural phenomenon as our mind uses past data to prepare for future eventualities. But sometimes this can lead to overthinking and that becomes overwhelming and leads to anxiety.
In an interview with Mind, Body, Green psychiatrist Pia Quimson D.O says, “Our anxieties and stress about the past and future can get in the way of being in the present moment. We worry about the impact of our past mistakes or events on our current situation and about the ‘what ifs’ of possible events that haven’t happened or may never happen.”
Embrace Mindfulness
Therefore focusing on the present moment takes a lot of practice. Some of the following things that can help to embrace mindfulness include:
- Meditate
Meditation allows you to develop higher levels of learning, memory and emotional processing which makes you live more in the present moment.
- Engage all your senses
Quimson says, “A helpful strategy is to focus your attention on your five senses.” This can include things like seeing, hearing and smelling the things that are in your environment, what your observe around you, what your clothes feel like, how comfortable your chair is and what the food you are eating tastes like.
- Commit to a hobby
According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “the way to happiness lies not in mindless hedonism but in mindful challenge.” When attention is place on a passion project the flow can keep you focused in the present moment.
More Tips to embrace mindfulness
- Focus on one thing at a time
“Try focusing on one task even if it’s for five minutes before jumping into the next task. When our attention is split, we can easily start to feel overwhelmed at how many things seemingly need our attention in that moment.”
- Feel emotions deeply
Get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable no matter how bad the emotional pain is don’t run away from it, instead feel it, process it and move on. According to a study in the Annual Review of Psychology having the ability to identify emotions helps us to develop emotional regulation and high-level social skills, which could be helpful for being in the present moment.
- Be with nature
Listening to the sound of waves or the swaying of trees isn’t just therapeutic, it helps you stay completely in the present moment.
NOTE: Photo above – pexels-un-buñuelo-15174803