Living in the present

Being truly present in the moment is arguably one of life’s biggest challenges. In this month’s mindfulness and wellbeing updates we’ll be thinking about how we can focus more on the here and now.

Many of us tend to spend a lot of time either ruminating about the past or worrying about the future, while it’s also easy to get distracted by intrusive thoughts that relate to the present moment but prevent us from being able to see situations with clarity. Over and above this, we live in a world where most of us are constantly surrounded by distractions of one form or another.

In the face of all this, learning to live more in the present can help us to see situations with more perspective, engage better with other people around us, experience increased focus and productivity, and enjoy the small moments more. We’ll be sharing some tips on how to do this, but they are by no means exhaustive so if you have alternative suggestions then please feel free to write them in the comments.

Tip number 1: Focus more on your immediate environment

If you tend to spend a lot of time in your head, try to literally look outward and focus on what’s happening around you. A commonly-used mindfulness technique is the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise which is intended to engage each of your five senses and involves looking out for five things you can see around you, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two that you can smell, and one that you can taste. Practising this will help you to feel more settled in your environment and give you a few moments’ time out from your thoughts.

If focused techniques don’t work for you, just try really looking around at what’s going on. If you’re indoors, stand up and look out the window to see what’s happening. If you’re in a public setting, spend some time observing other people around you.

Try to ground yourself in your physical body by focusing on your breathing and by mentally scanning your body to identify areas of tension. Get up and walk around wherever possible, and try to improve your body language and posture since this will also boost your mental outlook.

Tip number 2: Learn to identify unhelpful thought patterns

It’s helpful to try to recognise and acknowledge when you’re starting to overthink things. According to Medium, we tend to spend a lot of our time worrying because we’re biologically programmed to always be on the lookout for threats, which explains why a lot of us spend so much time worrying about basic survival aspects like housing and money. But while it’s important to dedicate a certain element of time to thinking through elements of our lives that are bothering us, after a certain point worry can become free-floating and turn counter-productive.

If you have a lot on your mind, try writing things down to help get them out of your mind and onto the paper. This will also help you to organise your thoughts, identify areas that you can make a practical difference to, and give you some kind of structure for tackling them later. Although it’s much easier said than done, try to schedule specific time periods for worrying about problems so that they aren’t going through your mind constantly.

Tip number 3: Try to put things into perspective

It’s normal to go over the past and in many ways that’s how we make sense of experiences and move on from them, but try to only do it every so often or set aside times to reflect on the past. If you have a tendency to worry about the future, try to remember that things might not be as bad as they seem, they might turn out differently, or there might be some kind of respite or solution that you can’t yet see from your current vantage point.

Try to use past experiences as a learning tool to help you move forward and achieve future objectives but realise that a lot of things don’t go to plan. Also remember that sometimes it’s the unexpected occurrences or even the challenges that ultimately teach us the most, so try not to worry too much about future happenings either.

Tip number 4: Spend more time with other people and be an active listener

We tend to overthink more if we spend a lot of time on our own, and if you’re the kind of person who spends a lot of time following the news or generally online, it can be easy to get overwhelmed. If you live alone or work remotely, try to seek out the company of other people, even if it means visiting third spaces rather than seeing people that you know personally. If you do have friends and family to call on, try to check in with them frequently.

Try to focus on being in the present when other people are talking to you and as far as possible, try to practice active listening by concentrating on what the other person is telling you rather than using that space to think about the next thing you’re planning on saying to them. Often if we can train ourselves to listen better then we benefit more from our interactions, which in itself will make us feel happier and leave us in a better place for future interactions.

Tip number 5: Try to get into the flow state

One of the best ways of rooting ourselves in the present is by finding something engaging to focus our mind on. The late Hungarian academic Mihály Csíkszentmihályi coined the idea of the so-called ‘flow state’, where we’re so absorbed in a task that we completely lose ourselves to the moment and act without thinking. Reaching optimum flow state means engaging with something that is personally meaningful to us and challenges us just enough to maintain our attention. Whether that means painting, knitting, cleaning, or any other activity that is similarly immersive, getting into the flow state can give us some much-needed respite from overthinking and help us to come back to our worries with greater perspective.

Tip number 6: Get moving

Always try to stay active whenever possible and if you can get outdoors or access any kind of semi-natural environment, try to do so whenever you can. The change of scenery will help you to think differently, plus moving around will boost oxygen flow to your brain and release endorphins. This then means that whenever you get back home again, you’ll be able to think about everything with greater perspective.

Tip number 7: Change the way you approach tasks

Most of us tend to spend a lot of time multitasking but we’re apparently more productive if we focus all of our concentration on one thing at a time. According to PsychCentral, ‘research suggests that multitasking makes it more difficult to focus, regulate your emotions, and remember important pieces of information’, which will probably feel familiar to anyone who has become accustomed to juggling too many things at once.

Write lists out if this helps you to prioritise tasks or to remember everything you have to do, and try to avoid having distracting things around you when you need to do something productive, including disabling notifications on your phone or leaving it in another room if necessary. Try to resist the temptation to look at your phone as a way of taking a break, since this will also undermine your focus and depending on what you are looking at, may even upset you.

Tip number 8: Realise that it’s difficult to live in the present all of the time

Our basic human nature can make it difficult for us to be fully immersed in the here and now, and we live in a time when we’re arguably faced with more distractions than any other generation that has come before us. Try not to feel bad if you spend a lot of your time feeling distracted. Even being present for short periods of time is better than nothing. Remember also that living in the present doesn’t necessarily mean feeling joyful and embracing every moment; it just means being in tune with your surroundings and aware of what’s happening around you.

We hope our eight tips for living in the present have been helpful, but we’re more than happy to read any more advice that you might have about seizing the moment, so don’t hesitate to leave your ideas in the comments.

Stay mindful, and thank you for reading our monthly updates!