Being Present in the Moment with Mindfulness
Mindfulness.
What comes to mind when when you hear the word mindfulness? Maybe it’s meditation, sitting in total silence, clearing your mind…though that may sound nice, achieving those things can be difficult and very much depend on your environment. Luckily, mindfulness does not require a dark quiet room or for you to clear all thoughts from your mind.
Mindfulness, at its core, is simply being present in the moment. Being aware of what is happening around you and the sensations you are experiencing internally, without judgment.
So often we go through life on autopilot, going from one task to the next. We are socially conditioned, even praised, to multitask. Though there is nothing wrong with multitasking or being on autopilot, it can be helpful to take pause every so often and check-in with ourselves. Mindfulness allows us to do that! When we are mindful, we are acknowledging the moment and how we are feeling in it. One way to practice this is asking yourself a few questions:
What is going on right now? Describe the situation you are in. For example: “I am sitting on my couch reading this article.”
Now go deeper, tune into your surroundings. What can you see? What can you hear? Maybe you hear the wind outside, the hum of your appliances, cars passing by. This may be the first time today that you have drawn your attention to the noises around you. It’s not that they are new, simply that we were tuning them out.
You know now what is happening externally, but what is happening internally in this moment? Take some time to scan your body. How does it feel? Maybe you feel relaxed, maybe you feel stiff and feel an urge to stretch? Remember there is no right answer, no right way to feel physically or mentally. Now check-in on your thoughts. Have they drifted away from the moment? If so, gently bring them back.
How does it feel to have awareness of this moment?
Eventually you will be able to move through these questions quickly without guidance. For now though, be patient with yourself. Start small, try to do one thing mindfully a week, this will grow with time! Like anything else we learn, mindfulness takes practice, the more you practice, the easier it becomes.
Now if you’ve gotten to this point and your thinking, “this sounds great and all, but I don’t have an extra 15 minutes a day to sit and tune into my environment and experience.” Don’t fret! Life is hectic and sometimes adding another thing to your list, even if pleasant, can feel like a monumental ask. If this is the case for you, try practicing mindfulness during one of your everyday tasks. It doesn’t require you to take extra time out of your day because these things are already in your routine! For example, practice being mindful when brushing your teeth in the morning. Think about it, how often are you focusing on other things when brushing your teeth? Maybe it’s your to-do list for the day? That email you need to send? That errand you need to run? Whatever it is, it is distracting you from the moment. Try being completely present when brushing your teeth. Notice the sensations as the brush goes over your teeth, mindfully brushing each one. Notice the tingling feeling you get when your teeth are clean.
This may sound trivial. Maybe you don’t care about being present while brushing your teeth, but I bet you care about being present in the moments that are important to you. Practicing being present in these mundane tasks helps you be present during the meaningful ones.
