What could be more important than being here, now? Given there is no other no other time than the eternal present moment, here and now is the only experience we have. And yet, most of the time, many of us are absorbed by the thinking mind; our attention lost in memories of the past, dreams (or nightmares) of the future, distracted by habitual thought patterns, stories, judgements, expectations, resentments, yearnings, fear and the world around us.
While there is nothing wrong with thinking, with analysing and learning from the past or setting goals and planning for the future, being constantly identified with the running commentary of self-talk in our head or being lost in incessant or unconscious thinking means we risk letting life pass us by. A lack of presence usually comes with feelings of lack or unfulfillment, while the richness, peace and joy of life as well as our personal power and potential can only be accessed in the present.
The greatest gift you can give yourself is to know yourself beyond the thinking mind, the ‘ego’, which creates all conflict and distress and is never satisfied for long.
No doubt we’ve all experienced the bliss of presence at times, times when we have little to do but relax and enjoy the moment. As kids, on holidays, playing music, dancing, laughing, meditating, gardening, being in nature, being with loved ones or pets … times when we experience ourselves as human beings, not just human doings. Being doesn’t mean not doing, it means being present and mindful of whatever you are doing.
Like thinking, there is nothing wrong with doing – how else do you get things done? - but doing with a sense of being, that is with the presence of awareness, is much more potent and powerful than mindless or distracted doing.
If we lack the self-awareness to observe our thoughts and unconscious drivers and patterns we can end up in endless cycles of self-torment and suffering; we can be striving to achieve someone else’s goals - those goals we think we should achieve to be successful or to be seen positively in the eyes of others; or we can end up stuck in a rut and don’t know it or don’t know how to get out.
One participant in a mindfulness workplace program told me about being at her wits’ end with losing her keys, which happened often. She would arrive home from work, dump the keys but forget where she left them when she next needed them. So, she decided to practice being mindful of where she put her keys when she arrived home by being more present and aware instead of being lost in thought about the day and other life events. So, she practiced intentionally paying attention, being present and aware during the activity of arriving home and putting her keys down. This one simple - but not easy for the absent or ‘mindless’ mind - activity was all she needed to do to stop losing her keys. When she was aware of what she was doing, she remembered what she did. When her mind was elsewhere, thinking of a time, place and moment other than the here and now, she was unaware of what she did and so did not remember doing it.
We can only know ourselves beyond the thinking mind with the presence of awareness, while any meaningful change starts with self-awareness in the present moment. We can’t make change by trying to fix things outside of us as the only two things we have control over are our thoughts and actions. Sadly, most of us are unaware of the underlying unconscious patterns and habits that control our thoughts, feelings, perceptions and actions.
And yet, the present moment is enormously undervalued, while success is often coupled and collapsed with busyness, stress, over-thinking and endless doing, doing, doing. People think this busyness and stress give them their edge, that they’ll lose performance if they introduce more presence, calm and self-care. But experience and science confirm the opposite is true.
Studies have verified that we are dumber when stressed – that is, blood moves from the high-cognitive-functioning frontal cortex further back in the brain to the reflex centres (we run on autopilot), while we also know that we can change how our brain functions through intentional awareness. Mindful attention practices (practicing presence) improve mood, executive brain control, overall functioning, performance, resilience, immunity and overall health outcomes.
The present moment, the eternal NOW is the only moment we truly have. The past only exists as a set of memories; thoughts with emotions attached – regret, nostalgia, guilt, sorrow … while the future is another imagined time that we can plan for but never actually arrives. It also has emotions attached to it – anticipation, anxiety, nervousness, excitement, fear … Overthinking has become a habit, maybe even an addiction, and we have developed a collective attention deficit disorder as a result. Unless we can hold our attention in the present moment long enough to know ourselves beyond the thinking mind, we will never experience all that life and being human has to offer.
Learning to manage attention and be more present does not take away our ability to perform, produce or achieve goals. Quite the contrary. Being present allows us to achieve all we desire without letting life pass us by. We can take action AND truly enjoy ourselves and our time here, now.
The presence of awareness is always present. You do not have to do anything or go anywhere to experience it. It exists within you in the eternal now, behind, beneath, before and beyond the objective world of thought, perception and sensation.
Awareness is, in fact, all we have, and the present moment is the only time we can engage with or achieve in life. So, while learning from the past, planning for the future and using our imagination are good and necessary, if our awareness is constantly taken away by rehashed memories, imaginary futures or mind-made stories, we miss the opportunity, joy and immediacy of life in the here and now.
As many teachings share, being aware of being aware is the highest form of meditation.
Thoughts?
Practice
Here is a short guided mantra meditation to help bring you back into the present.
Image by Ben White/Unsplash