10 Ways to Be Present Now
If you were asked to be present, would you know what that meant? We hear it all the time. Be in the present moment. And yet, do we really know what that means? The simple answer is that being present means paying attention. In the world we live in, giving our undivided attention to anything is a challenge because we are so bombarded with things vying for our attention. Being present takes practice to notice where we are and what is going on around us. You will find that life becomes richer, experiences have more meaning and your life becomes more fulfilling. I have identified 10 practices to bring our attention back to the present from the myriad of outside forces pulling at us. Try one a day and see how more colorful your life becomes.
1) Listen to a favorite piece of music like you are hearing it for the first time. This is one of my favorite things to do when I want to just relax, be in the moment and at the same time wake up my brain. I will listen to a song that I love and have listened to hundreds of time (a Beatles song always works well) and I listen as if I have never heard it before. I really tune in and I always discover a harmony I have never noticed or an instrument that I’ve never heard. It’s like hearing it for the first time and really opens your eyes to how much we miss when we become too familiar with something.
2) Close your eyes and notice as many sounds as you can hear and any smells you can detect. If you are doing this in nature, it’s easy. Find a spot to sit down and smell the pine from the trees, listen to the birds singing, small animals rustling in the leaves, maybe a few bugs flying around. In a city, you have to pay even more attention as your senses are bombarded with sights, sounds and smells. A number of years ago when I was living in Southern California I came home to NYC for a few days. It was a hot summer night and I was walking from Grand Central Station to my friend’s apt downtown. It had been awhile since I was in NYC and I wanted to soak up all the sights and sounds during my walk and fill my senses of all the things I missed about NYC. I experienced the city like I never have before even though I lived there for 12 years. The chestnuts roasting from the street vendors, aromas from different restaurants as I passed by, the sounds of traffic, people talking many different languages, the various musicians on the street, an outdoor movie I passed at Bryant Park playing the Looney Tunes theme. I was so moved by this that as soon as I got to my friend’s apt I wrote down all that I noticed. It made me appreciate what a gorgeous, colorful city that I often took for granted.
3) Notice the thoughts that precede emotions. When you are feeling a specific emotion, stop and check in with yourself and identify the thought that preceded the emotion. It’s natural to think emotion comes first and then we identify it with a thought. It is actually the other way around. When you are feeling sad, angry or any emotion that does not feel good to you, ask yourself what you were thinking about before you felt this way. Then, you have choice to think a thought that feels better. Viola’, in this red-hot present moment, you have changed the way you feel. You always have a choice.
4) Taste what you are eating — When you sit down to eat something, really taste what you are eating. What is the texture like? Is it salty? Sweet? Are there any other flavors (spices) you can detect? Savor each bite as you revel in the sensuous nature we partake in each day as we eat. So many times we unconsciously eat without really tasting what we are putting in our mouths. You can do this with something as simple as an apple, or a complex dish like chili. The key here is to really pay attention to all that your mouth is experiencing.
5) Self-talk check-in throughout the day. — See who’s occupying space inside your head. Is it your 3rd grade teacher who told you that you’d never amount to anything? Is it your mother who told you that money is scarce and there is never enough? Ask yourself, who does this thought belong to? Our self-talk is like a constant affirmation of what is and we keep attracting more of that into our lives. Becoming conscious of our self-talk and checking to see if it’s aligned with what we want in our lives is the first step in creating your future, NOW in the present.
6) Exercise — Any time you engage in exercise is a perfect opportunity to tune into your body and be fully present. Pay attention to your breathing; see how it speeds up as you workout harder. When do you begin to perspire? Do a body scan once you have been working out for a little while. Are you relaxed? Which muscles do you feel working? Are you experiencing any fatigue or tightness? Listen to the rhythm of your feet on the ground or the hypnotic rotation of the bicycle wheel. You can actually get into a moving meditation by focusing on the rhythm of your movements which will not only make you unaware of time passing but will also help clear your head of any distracting mind chatter.
7) Pick a daily routine and do with full awareness — One of my favorite meditative things to do is iron. It could be because I don’t do it that often and if I am not in a hurry to do it last minute, I find it incredibly relaxing and requires intense focus. You are seeing instant results before your eyes as you flatten those wrinkles away. The rhythmic flow of the iron across the shirt is reminiscent of getting a massage (which also happens to be one of my most favorite things!). You can do this with any daily routine, washing dishes, taking a shower, vacuuming — all are opportunities to really get present and pay full attention to what you are doing. You will get a feeling of satisfaction and give your mind a rest instead of seeing it as a chore that must get done.
8) Watch a pet — One thing for sure we can learn from animals is how to be fully present, because they only exist in the present tense. Animals aren’t worrying about whether they ate too much at breakfast or what they are going to do tomorrow. They are only concerned about what is in front of them at any given time. Have you ever watched a dog or a cat for a few minutes and see how their actions and expressions are completely in reaction to the sights and sounds right now? They only know how to be present and always seem to be at peace with what is. We can learn a lot from watching them.
9) End of Day Review — Right before you go to sleep while lying in bed do a “review” of your day and view it like you were watching a movie in high speed. View it objectively and make no judgments around events being good or bad. What this does is clear any negative thoughts that you’ve accumulated throughout the day and frees you from holding onto this lower level vibration energy into your subconscious as you drift off to sleep. This practice can be done nightly to neutralize the events of the day.
10) Become an observer. When at a public gathering; a party, concert, or some other event, take a few minutes and just remove yourself from the situation and view it as an observer vs. a participant. Notice your surrounding, the sounds, look at the people around you — what they are wearing, their body language, what music is playing, are there any particular smells around you? What is the overall energy of the event…celebratory, formal, fun and relaxed? It will really heighten your experience, plus will make the event that much more memorable.
