Staying in The Present Moment:

 

The mind's tendency is to chatter and often shatter present moment awareness. It constantly reflects on the past, tries to control the future and judges the present.

 

So how do we shift it from these circular tendencies?

 

1/ Do something you love and that engages your senses fully. Orient your life from that place of loving focused engagement to the best of your ability .Serve others from that place.

 

2/ If that does not seem possible in the current moment try these tools to create a GAP for the mind.

     Gratitude

     Acceptance

     Presence

 

Gratitude

When gratitude is deeply felt, unconditionally as best as you can, seeing the value in what is present and around you, right now, you might well feel a deeper engagement and ease at the heart, especially the rear between the shoulder blades. Gratitude creates value in the present moment and as such brings the feeling attention to what IS existing, rather than asking always for something better. This can lead to.

 

Acceptance

Sometimes we cannot change the external or we realise that the external will never satisfy something deeper within us. We all have relationships, commitments, responsibilities and habits. Acceptance is one step on from valuing. We trust in ourselves and in life enough to accept what is in our world, with compassion.

The 12- step Aphorism can ring true here:

Accept what you cannot change.

Change the things you can.

Learn the wisdom to know the difference. As we let go of our desire to always control, this elicits something deeper within us.

 

Presence

Knowing that the present moment is truly the only one, we do what feels intuitively correct to our own deeper values, and bring compassion and eventually reorientation to that which is not aligned with those. As we play with the above qualities we may well find that we drop into a place called presence.

The mind here is more spacious, judgements are more easily put aside. We may not know what to do but we can stay with uncertainty.We drop into a deeper part of ourselves that is easeful, more present and not ever seeking.