Mindfulness Now
/Are you seeking to live wide awake? Do you feel that you tend to focus your attention on what happened in the past? Are you constantly trying to live in your future? Ready to change your life and live in the present moment? I am going to share a new way to live each and every moment of your day. Say goodbye to living in the past and constantly wishing for the future. There is a different way to move through your life that will give you more freedom and space to focus on what you love. It starts within your mind, like planting a new seed and begins with a fresh view. There might be a little resistance when you begin. Perhaps even a lot of resistance. This will definitely require time and effort. But I promise, you are worth it!
Earlier this year, I began the study of mindfulness and explored this way of living with my teacher Sarah Powers. I honestly wasn’t aware of how much time I spent reliving my past until I started to notice the constant wandering of my mind. For example, I would realize that I was replaying a conversation that I’d had with someone over and over again. I might even try to change the conversation to create a new outcome. I was wasting my time and energy trying to change something that had already happened. Does any of this sound familiar to you? I started to question my behaviour. If the conversation was over, what was the purpose of constantly rehashing it? And that’s when things started to change for me. The big AH moment! I was missing out on what was happening right now! I seriously hadn’t given a second thought to the time consumed with living in my past.
This new awareness of my thoughts has allowed me to recognize when I focused on the past, present or future. I found that my meditation practice became the key for me to gently bring myself back to the present. During my meditation, I would say the word “WANDERING” silently to myself. This was a direct and effective reminder for me to come back to now. Just to give you a quick real time view of living in the present moment - I want to be here fully in this moment with you, fully awake and present as I madly type my current thoughts into this blog. I am present during the fast clicking on the keyboard, aware of the ticking of my clock, hearing the soft sound of my breath and allowing my thoughts to immediately flow onto the page. This is being present!
The more I practice bringing myself to the present moment, I feel a greater connection to myself and everyone else. My daily meditation practice had always been important for me but now it a MUST! I quickly noticed that I was becoming more intuitive and better at listening. I have become less judgmental of myself and others. It is like a big present has been just gifted to my life. There are times where I wonder why didn’t I know this sooner or why wasn’t I taught this as a child. I feel like I missed out on what was actually happening because I couldn’t stop replaying yesterday or jumping into the future in my mindI had to make a choice to let all of that go. I am grateful that I was guided to this new way of living.
This way of living AWAKE is available for to you! How to start? That’s the next question. The answer is simple. Start to pay attention to the conversations within your mind and notice when you fall into the past or move into the future. Then note “WANDERING” or another trigger word that works for you. Take a deep breath in and start living in the present again. Starting a daily meditation practice will speed up the process of gathering your mind into the present. For you, this can be a 5 minutes before you get out of bed in the morning or seated or when you get into bed at night.
To help you begin your journey of present moment living, I have created a free guided meditation entitled ‘Presence’ to start you on your way. Even if you have never meditated before, I am here to help you. Be patient and gentle with yourself as you get started. Present moment living is now!