To live in the present wisely and sincerely is one of the keys to health and happiness. By letting go of the past, you eliminate unnecessary emotional baggage that hinders you from moving forward. By not worrying about the future, you free your heart and mind of fear and anxiety. But by focusing on the now and living in the present, you are allowing yourself to truly be alive and to enjoy life without hindrances. In a world full of distractions, nothing is as important as learning the art of now. There are numerous practices you can observe to help you do so, and the following are just a few of them.
Start Your Day With Meditation
Nothing can clear your mind from the hurts of the past and the fears of the future better than meditation. Whether it’s through prayer, yoga, or concentration, meditation allows you to shut off the anxieties of the outside world and zoom in to what’s more important at the moment. Through meditation, you allow your mind and heart to be calm and cut down every form of distraction trying to rob you of your happiness.
Don’t Multitask
When you’re watering the plants, just water the plants. When you’re reading a book, just read a book. When you’re eating, just eat and don’t do anything else. It may seem simple, but in our generation where everything seems to be wanting our attention, focusing on a single task at a time can be a real challenge. However, single-tasking, and not multi-tasking, is the one of the best ways to live in the now.
Take Your Time with Each Task
Doing one thing at a time is one thing, but taking time working on that task is another. We live in a world where everything is always on a rush. We have rush hour, rush ID, fast food, express lanes, etc. If you can do things a little bit slower, you’ll be able to enjoy the moment more. Aside from not rushing on tasks, see to it, too, that you perform your actions deliberately. Spontaneity is good, but doing things intentionally is better because it gives you a sense of accomplishment.
Commit to Do Less Today
This may or may not be applicable depending on the nature of your job, but if you can afford it, commit to do less even for just a few days a week. By doing less, you can work slowly and with much more focus, giving you a higher chance to get your job done with excellence. If you fill your plate with several different tasks, chances are you’ll be rushing from one task to the other, and you’ll end up either delivering mediocre results or not completing a single task at all.
Leave Enough Room Between Tasks
This is somewhat related to the preceding tip, but it’s more on learning how to manage your schedule so that you always have enough time to complete each of your tasks. Instead of plotting your tasks close together, leave enough room between each task. This will give you more time to finish a task as well as ample time to relax and recharge your batteries before moving on to the next task.
Consciously Focus on the Present
This may sound obvious, but you can’t just sit there and wait for your mind to focus on the present because it won’t. The human brain has the capacity to absorb a huge amount of information, and many a times, if you don’t consciously concentrate on a particular cluster of information, your mind will go about wandering, distracted and unfocused. Sometimes, in order for you to be in the moment, you need to intentionally direct your thoughts to remain in the now.
Eat Slowly
Eating is one of life’s greatest pleasures, but instead of enjoying our time with our food, we often cram them down our throats in a hurry. If we are to live in the moment, we need to take time to enjoy every minute we spend, whether we are playing, reading our favorite book, watching our favorite TV show, or eating. Interestingly enough, you’ll eat less by chewing your food slowly, so you’ll not only enjoy your food, but lose weight at the same time.
Enjoy Life Like The Little Children Do
Nothing can help you enjoy the present than by imitating the little children. Unlike adults, children have no worries in life. All they ever think about is what their next activity is going to be. I’m not saying that you should ignore your problems, quit your job, and live in your mom’s house, but if you want to start living in the present, you would want to sit back once in a while and be a little child once again.
You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment