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Happy New YOU - Be inspired to be more present in 2016!
As we return to the more routine aspects of our lives now the holidays are over, let’s take a moment to consider how we may have inadvertently allowed things to simply pass us by.
For instance, did you notice yourself eating a meal or a snack over the festive season without really tasting it? Or perhaps, completing a chore without being able to remember what, how, or even when you did it? Or, how about driving to visit friends or family without realising the route you took to get there?
Very often our days, whether on holiday or at work, can completely wash over us with our minds wandering off elsewhere, as we run the risk of day-dreaming our lives away.
No-one can actually live ‘in the moment’ all the time — I don’t think it’s possible. Some, with practice, can learn to live in the moment for longer than others, but there will always be times when we’re worried about the future, or thinking about the past, and therefore forget to be in the present…..and certainly, over Christmas, it may have been all too easy to lose ourselves in such moments of introspection.
It’s actually pretty hard to be totally present. Test it out right now: close your eyes (obviously, after you’ve finished reading this section on what it is you’re supposed to do!) and concentrate on your breathing — feel the sensation of the air as it enters your nose or mouth and fills your lungs, and then as it goes out again. If other thoughts come up, just be aware of them, i.e. be mindful by acknowledging them and letting them go (but don’t force them away), and then return your attention to your breathing.
It’s hard, isn’t it? Being present or being in the (here & now) moment isn’t as easy as it sounds. However, with practice, it can certainly be achieved more often than not. Take a look at where my switch-off time took me over the festive season!
Kids. No-one is better at being present than a child. I love seeing my little nephews play. They’re not thinking about what happened to them yesterday, or what they’re going to do later today. One of them is Spiderman fighting all the bad guys, the other is Captain America, thinking nothing in the world exists except good overcoming evil! If they get mad about something, they over-react, and nothing else matters except whatever has just upset them. They’ll whinge and they’ll cry, fight and sulk, and then soon enough return to their normal, happy state all over again, the offending situation completely forgotten, without a thought. Amazing! They have no cares about tomorrow, and for that, I love them, and really must spend more time with them. We need to use our children as inspiration, and do our best to be like them sometimes.
Cats. I also love watching my sister’s cat. She (the cat, that is, not my sister!) thinks she’s the Queen of Sheba, or a lioness, most of the time. She’ll stalk an insect or a mouse with such stealth, it’s freaky. As if hidden in the tall grass of a jungle, she’ll then pounce, lash out and attack, totally overpowering her prey. You know she’s not thinking about what she had for breakfast or what furniture needs to be clawed into shreds later that day. Cats may seem callous, but like all our furry friends, they are all certainly about living in the Now. So……how about we consider being more like a cat?
Food. I know how much I love good food! No messing about being a fussy or picky eater – I enjoy being in the moment completely with every delicious mouthful. Why not learn to enjoy eating with ALL of your being? If you tend to gobble your food quickly, close your eyes and slowly put that spoon of ice cream in your mouth and savour the flavour, the texture, the coolness, the sweetness, the lusciousness of it all. Enjoying things like this will have you experience life as a totally new type of human being! Be inspired the next time you eat something: don’t think about anything other than the food, don’t read anything that might just be lying around and don’t say anything to anyone – feel eternally grateful for what’s in front of you and then relish your experience of the food.
A clean sweep. I do love things around my home to be immaculately clean and tidy. …..and, believe it or not, cleaning is one of the main daily rituals of a Zen monk, and considered to be one of the most important of their daily practices! They sweep and clean, and then do their best at doing nothing else. They’re not thinking about being in a Zen state — it’s the sweeping action itself that IS the Zen state! So, the next time you’re doing housework, concentrate fully on the job in hand, on the dust, on the motion, on the cloth, on the polish, on the sensation, and see how the task, which is normally a chore, can be turned into a complete charm. The resulting shine or polish will speak for itself!
Lose yourself in something. We’ve all been ‘in the moment’ plenty of times before. Remember a time when you lost yourself totally in a job? Not lost in thought, but lost in the ‘doing’ of the task itself? Concentrating fully (which isn’t necessarily the same as mindfulness: the latter is more about being aware of what’s going on in the mind, the former is about being focused), you’re totally wrapped up in what you’re doing and certainly not thinking about anything else. The world almost feels as though it’s disappeared for the moment. It might have happened while working on a project, that you’ve found yourself achieve this state of mind, known as being ‘in the zone’ or the ‘flow’, or it could have been while luxuriating in the bath, or while stirring the ingredients for your Christmas pudding, or when fixing back that dropped curtain rail, or while decorating the spare bedroom, or indeed, while doing anything at all. Simply recalling such a time that you’ve experienced over the holiday period and then replicating it really does mean that being in the zone is as easy as that!
A future that’s different from your past? Stay tuned to see what the rest of the year brings!