You Must Be Present To Win – A Simple Way To Get In The Now

Being in the now is really nothing more than a state of mind. It’s when we are most open to our surroundings and are not plagued with countless thoughts that work to discourage our current efforts. It is when we experience clear and concise insights that help us move forward and when we finally have the ability to find new inspiration in even the most innocuous things. There truly is beauty all around us if we take the time to pay attention to it, but most of us get so wrapped up in our day to day lives, we sometimes even experience guilt for wanting to let the thoughts go.

How often do you find yourself working on something, but end up losing momentum because you can’t stop thinking about everything else you need to get done or what you didn’t get done yesterday? Most everyone I know wants to experience productive days that end with a sense of accomplishment, but if you can’t stop thinking, chances are you won’t get anything done at all. We also try to plan for whatever is coming next in order to avoid future frustrations, but constant planning coupled with a lack of action is a recipe for continued stagnancy and elevated levels of stress. Once this happens consistently, we dig an even deeper hole that will be more difficult to climb out of come tomorrow. Then, the cycle repeats and all sorts of nasty emotions begin to surface. It’s a hole that too many have been down countless times. Our minds truly have the ability to be our biggest enemies when we let them.

As mentioned to in other posts meditation is a quick way to get present, but it differs from what we are discussing today. Below, please find a quick and easy process to help you achieve this state right now. You deserve peace in your life and you deserve to accomplish everything you set out to do. Let’s issue an immediate moratorium on the constant influx of thoughts that plague us all, right here right now.

Getting There

Stop everything you are doing. This may seem completely counterproductive, but trust it. Take a look around you. What do you see? What do you notice that’s different? What do you feel? If you feel guilt, it’s because your mind is already racing and you are already starting to worry that you are wasting time and not getting anything done. It could even chain react at this point and make you believe that doom and gloom is right around the corner if you don’t get back to work right at this very second! But, try to pay attention to what you are seeing. Focus in on every aspect of it and allow all of your physical senses to experience it. This doesn’t mean you have to run around tasting and sniffing things,  but you can imagine what it would taste and smell like. Allowing all of your senses to come to the forefront is a quick way to shut down the mind and is especially useful whenever it starts to run wild.

It makes no difference what you focus in on. For me, I like to go outside and pay attention to nature. I immerse myself completely in my surroundings and in the process, think of nothing else. Achieve that state of nothingness and just let go for a minute. Once you’ve developed that feeling, you’ve experienced a present moment. There were no worries, there were no burdensome thoughts and for just a second, everything was perfect. This is the state you want to aspire to constantly be in. The more present you are, the more you will accomplish. While this may seem like a simple distraction technique, I can assure you it’s actually much more because the more you develop it, the more you will experience the peace and clarity needed to accomplish anything you set out to do.

Utilize this same method when you are working on any type of project.  Rather than worrying about whether or not you are going to get it done or stressing over the fact that it might take up too much time and inhibit you from picking up the kids on time, just let go and focus. Feel every bit of it and think of nothing else. Give all of your attention to the task at hand and you will likely get it done much faster than you expected and start regularly producing higher quality work that you are proud to call your own. This method can apply to anything, even activities you enjoy doing and conversations with loved ones. Immerse every bit of yourself and pay attention to nothing else.

Lastly, practice, practice, practice! The savage beast between our ears, in most cases, cannot be tamed overnight, but you will eventually get there and start to experience the peace you deserve the more you utilize this simple technique. Don’t worry about perfecting it right away. It takes time!  You may even have days where you can’t get your thoughts straight. It happens, but by going back to basics and recreating that present feeling, you can immediately apply it and finally start to experience a calm, productive, and much easier existence.