Do you often find yourself overthinking? Are you more wrapped up in your thoughts, ruining your ability to enjoy the present moment and fully experience all the joys of life? Maybe you want to work on how to be present at the moment so you can be a happier parent, partner, or friend to those around you.
When you constantly worry and create imaginary situations in your head to stress over, you miss the joy of living in the present. Your anxiety will take over your mind’s ability to truly feel the present. Try recalling the feelings and memories of the small precious moments that make up those milestones.
If you find it difficult to recall small moments, though you may have been physically present, you are not really living in the present. This mindset can prevent you from truly celebrating many important life events with your loved ones.
How much of your daily life have you been enjoying? When you look back on your life, it’s the moments between the big events that make up most of your time. Are you living out every day truly present in the moment? Or are you chasing milestone after milestone, trying to feel something real?
Meditation can be a helpful tool to practice how to be present. It trains your mind to stay focused on the present and not be distracted by wandering thoughts. It may also help you create a mental state where you are ready to admit and acknowledge your emotions rather than avoid them by distracting yourself.
Plus, it helps to calm your thoughts and boost your energy, making it easier to think positively and see the good in every situation. When your mind is clear and your energy flows, it’s much easier to let go of the past and the future. Through meditation, living in the moment can come naturally to you. Eventually, you won’t even need to deliberately think about how to be present at the moment.
Why Is Being Present Important?
Restraining from negative internal dialogues, thoughts and emotions, and consciously choosing to live in the present with a positive, enthusiastic attitude are way more important than you would probably ever think. It’s because the thoughts you bear in mind have real, physical influences on your mind and body!
Mental Afflictions Cause Illness
Negative feelings like hatred, sadness, vengeance, and chronic stress can cause illnesses.
Your mind can decrease your risk of coronary artery disease, improve your physiological stress response, amplify your workout effects, and even block your pain receptors.
Your happy thoughts can induce peace, contentment, confidence, and patience. On the other hand, your negative emotions – whether rage, sorrow, insecurities, low self-esteem, stress, anxiety, depression, or anything – are equally capable of turning your stable mentality into an uncontrolled condition that Buddhism regards as a “monkey mind.”
A monkey mind represents a concept of intermixed or unsorted feelings and emotions. We’ve all experienced this “monkey mind”, like when your thoughts race at night or when you first start meditating. It’s like a constant, nonstop internal monologue of thoughts and ideas, spiraling without any control or end.
At times like this, you may wonder how to be present – especially with modern technology’s overstimulation and information overload. Meditation can help you calm the monkey mind and reduce your stress and anxiety before they harm your health.
How to Practice to Be More Present?
So now that you know all about the importance of living in the moment, you may be wondering about the actual practice of how to be present.
If you are wondering how to be present, try out these two practices that may help you be able to enjoy the present moment:
Learn to Let Go
Let go of the past by accepting what you can’t change in the present. Often the past reminds us of the things that didn’t go as planned, filling us with emotions like guilt, regret, confusion, and anger. Conversely, we may also hold on to good memories from the past, unwilling to face present realities.
Sometimes, we also hold on to our imaginations of what the future may look like, creating scenarios in our heads to overanalyze and stress over. These mental habits can be incredibly detrimental to our psychological and physical health, draining us of our energy, peace, and happiness.
That’s why you must learn how to be present at the moment by training your mind. Daily meditation teaches you to break the complex, stressful cycle of overthinking and living in the past or living in the future. For example, one meditation experiment study found that cultivating present-moment awareness meditation and learning to let go could suppress stress-triggering emotions.
There are two ways we can learn to let go – through meditation, which helps us think positively and stop overthinking by increasing our energy and overall mood and understanding the truth of life. When people are at a high spiritual level, they can see through the cycles of life and understand them. That’s how you can stay calm when things happen. When we finally understand the truth of life and nature, it puts into perspective what is truly important in life. Many of our daily stresses and worries naturally fall away.
Listen to an excerpt from Grandmaster JinBodhi’s Dharma Teachings about letting go, attachment, and detachment:
We enter this life with nothing, and we leave with nothing. Understanding this truth, we can let go of everything. Our worldly pursuits of fame and personal interests only bring suffering. Up until our dying breath, we are still not awakened. But going from having nothing to having or experiencing all of these, we should let go of them.
After we have seen through, attached, had, and experienced fame, love, fortune, beauty, wealth, power, success, and greatness, we must let them go. If you remain attached, you will attract afflictions. Only by letting go can we be liberated.
Let go of the past, but pick up a new habit of helping others. An enlightened person helps others become liberated and at ease. A truly successful person is attached to the mission of benefitting all sentient beings. You will surely be happy, joyful, and healthy and have many friends.
Practice Gratitude
Another powerful way to live in the moment is by practicing gratitude and contentment. These words are connected, and the feelings follow the same written order. But appreciation is not limited to special occasions or something big and expensive. It is necessary not only to express gratitude when you finally get an overdue promotion or nomination but also for the joys of daily life and even when you encounter situations that may be less than ideal.
The practice of gratitude teaches us how to be present by observing and appreciating the little things we may usually fail to notice. Being mindful of the people and things around us can make us more aware of the beauty of simplicity every day, which comes to light when viewed with compassion and kindness.
Moreover, even just experiencing positive emotions such as gratitude, compassion, and kindness can have relaxing effects on the body and mind, nourishing the soul from the inside out. You can start practicing gratitude by consistently including a daily ritual of reflecting on what you have to be grateful for. Eventually, it will become second nature to discover and appreciate the good in every moment.
Practicing gratitude has shown proven results – for example, one study revealed that only listing down little notes of reflection (even on the small moments making one feel thankful for anything) could remarkably elevate the chances of a healthier and more satisfying lifestyle.
The Best Place for You to Be Present Is at Bodhi Meditation!
Now that you have learned some techniques for how to be present in the moment, if you are further interested in discovering the many different benefits of meditation, feel free to join Bodhi Meditation today.
For over three decades, Grandmaster JinBodhi has taught students the techniques and philosophies of meditation worldwide. He has established official Bodhi Meditation Centers in more than ten countries and regions, including the United States, Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia, to share the benefits of meditation with more people.
Bodhi Meditation offers the public unique, easy-to-learn, and effective meditation methods culminating in Grandmaster JinBodhi’s intensive meditation training and experiences. Bodhi Meditation’s guided visualization-meditation practices are compassion-based, heart-centered techniques that help resolve physical, mental, and emotional suffering, promoting holistic health and happiness.
Bodhi techniques are practical and effective, adapted to the modern, fast-paced lifestyle, and suitable for all, irrespective of gender, age, culture, religion, profession, race, language, background, or location.
“Abiding” doesn’t mean not leaving but being in the moment. Live your present moment well.”
Grandmaster JinBodhi, “Seeing Through” is the Only Way to Let Go.
