Mindfulness: 3 Ways To Stay In The Present

Mindfulness is the idea of paying attention to and staying focused on what is going on at the moment in order to reduce stress and enjoy life.  So what can we do to stay mindful. One thing that I try to do when things start to bother me is determine whether or not if it is something that is happening right now, something that I believe that is going to happen as a result of what is going on right now or something that has already happened. Then I remind myself that I cannot predict the future or change the past. There are a couple of ways you can work towards staying in the present. You can take time to just stop and recognize everything that is going on around you. The colors of flowers, how many gas stations you pass on your way to work or even how much fun you are having when you go out to an event. Prayer is also something else that keeps you present because the focus is on your current state of mind. The last thing I know that helps with staying present I really need to make time for and that is meditation. Meditation slows down your thoughts and helps you to focus them on that moment. It only takes a couple of minutes (15 to 20 minutes) per day to do this and it starts to bleed over into your daily life of keeping you in the present. You don’t even have to start at that length of time, you can start at like 3 minutes and work your way up.

A question that came up for me was what kind of meditation to do. There is mindfulness meditation, love and kindness meditation, most times I just do listening to myself breath and that’s it meditation. Oprah and Deepak Chopra recently completed a 21 day meditation challenge that was provided over podcast. People who would not even have considered the concept are learning that this age old exercise is healthy for your mind. Is there anything that you do or can suggest that others do to stay more focused on the present? What do you think about mindfulness?