Being ‘Present’ – What’s all the fuss about?

With numerous demands on our time at every second of the day and your mind concerned about other demands in the past or future, we often struggle to really appreciate our circumstance at the time.

What happens when we are constantly thinking about other things, distracted from the now? How do you think you will look back on your life – “Thank goodness I was always planning for the next thing?”. The moments that you probably most appreciate, yearn for and miss are those that you have been able to ‘switch off’ and simply enjoy what is happening at the time. Of course, as busy and successful people, we must plan. However, constantly thinking and planning without meaningfully and purposefully writing things down means that all of these thoughts are just noise that often spin around and around in your mind.

So, what do we recommend?

– Set aside time in the morning or night to plan your day and important things coming up.

– Write down your plans or things that are bothering you in a little book. A couple of sentences should suffice, we know you are busy! You can use this book in your planning time. By doing that, you have removed the ‘need to remember’ from your brain and you can free up some space.

– Assess whether it is productive to continually focus on something and think about it – can the situation be changed? Would it help you to talk to someone?

– Start a habit of three times a day, stopping to look around and ask yourself to enjoy the task that you are doing, even it is as mundane as sitting on the bus, folding laundry, making an important work call or just sitting still for a moment. You could even speak to a friend and tell them how much you appreciate them. Once this starts to become a habit, you will notice yourself appreciating simple things a lot more in your life in general.

Our relationships with others and our sense of self-satisfaction depend on our ability and openness to ENJOYING the stage in which we are at. If you are constantly worrying, wanting more, thinking you will be happy when… you will spend a lot of time ignoring the opportunity for gratefulness, which is available to you in each moment.