"If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath."
- Amit Ray
Take ten seconds to take in the sights and sounds around you. Take it all in. Maybe you can smell something too. What can you touch around you? Now take a deep breath in and slowly breathe it out. This is the present moment. It's where we live when we are not living inside our own minds. The past and future do not exist in the present moment. There are no regrets or missed opportunities. There are no concerns about what tomorrow may or may not deliver since tomorrow does not exist. There is only now. It's where everything happens.
It can be easy to get caught up in the distractions created by our own minds. In today's fast-paced world, our minds may find it hard to slow down and take a few moments to simply breathe in the life-giving oxygen that keeps our hearts beating. We can get so caught up in the drama of the past or uncertainty of the future that we forget to live in the now. Again, it's where everything happens. Most of our worry, anxiety and doubt exists in our minds, whether we are thinking about the past or the future. The present is where we can squash all that.
Photo by Chetan Menaria on Unsplash
If we can make a strong effort to focus on what is going on right in front of our face, we can forget about any previous missteps or looming deadlines. We can also address any stress we are feeling in the moment by doing something about the cause of it. If there is nothing we can do about it right now, it's not worth thinking about if all it does is stir up negative emotions. When we are being mindful, we are taking care of business or taking care of ourselves in the present moment. No past. No future. Just right now. Much easier said than done.
We can learn to live more in the present by being more mindful with all of our senses more of the time. We can even incorporate little reminders to help us stay focused on the now. Whenever we find ourselves getting anxious about things that have not happened or may never happen, we can choose to become more engaged in the now. The same goes for getting stuck in our heads by replaying past events that no longer serve us. We can return our focus to the present. It's where life happens. No past. No future. Just right now.
More Wellness!
Zen Habits: How to Be Mindful All the Time
Positive Psychology: How to Live in the Present Moment: 35 Exercises and Tools
Mindful: 5 Science-Backed Reasons Mindfulness Meditation Is Good for Your Health
Take a mindfulness break . . .
