How I remain present all day

 

Be aware of your breathing as often as you are able, whenever you remember. Do that for one year, and it will be powerfully transformative. And it’s free. ~Eckhart Tolle

Well there’s a simple way to be present all day. But it’s not easy at all.

Presence come to different people through different mediums. Some like to incorporate the duality of sound and silence, where as some are more affected by body awareness. Others may find frequent meditations helpful. Some say what helped them best was to monitor their thoughts and feelings.

I am very sensitive to sound and have always had sensitive auditory senses.

Yet, body awareness seems to work for me the best. Even the darkest night of my soul gets a little ray of light if I try to focus on the energy field in my hand.

So here’s what I do to stay grounded in presence all day:

I incorporate all the helpful pointers of presence throughout my daily life. It goes like this-

I start the day with a 10-minute meditation.

As I go through my day, I simply keep noticing my breath. All the time. Whenever I find myself forgetful of this, I simply start again. I don’t worry about the past one hour when I forgot to notice my breathing. I don’t worry myself about how I am going to prevent this in the future. I simply notice my breath now. At this moment and don’t put much energy into thinking about it.

When I am in my bed for sleep, I practice a whole-body awareness scan as Eckhart showed in ‘The Power of Now’.

This seems to calm me down and put me in an aware, alert and happy mode.

Some days I feel euphoric and so incredibly present that I can’t help but be grateful for my existence. This kind of experience has been very rare in my life so far.

That is not to say I can consistently be intensely present. Most of the days I feel normal. I feel at ease. But not euphoric.

 

I can’t recommend ‘The power of now’ enough!

If I had to pick only one book as a lifelong companion, it’d be ‘The power of now’ by ‘Eckhart Tolle’.

Like wine, this book gets better as it ages. I’ve had this for almost seven years now. Throughout all those years, the book has shaped me in the best possible ways.

For, anyone interested in spirituality, ‘The power of now’ is the comprehensive beginner’s guide. For those who are anxious or depressed, this book could give some practical solutions.

Here are some invaluable gems I got out of this book. Enjoy!

1. Time isn’t real:

It isn’t a philosophical statement which is subject to individual judgement. Time literally does not exist. We made it up for convenience. When we think of the past, we do that now. Same goes to the future.

2. Inner Body awareness:

It is said that, Jesus ascended to heaven with his body. He never abandoned it. This saying marks the time period when humans started seeing the body as less of a hindrance to spirituality and more of an ally.

Inner body awareness is a great practice to not lose yourself amidst the chaos of life. Eckhart Tolle dedicated a whole chapter towards the inner body and talks about how your body could be a great vessel for being more present. If you are looking for an app to help you with inner body practices, I suggest Headspace. It has a whole different section about getting in touch with the body, and its really good.

3. Sound as a portal for presence:

Sound and silence, both can be great pointers to help us be more present. Listen to the various types of sound around you. Focus, and you will feel more present. An even better exercise is to listen to the silence. This will calm your mind down.

4. Anger management:

As a young adult, I used to complain a lot and get angry at my parents all the time. But as I kept practicing inner body awareness, I started to catch myself whenever I would start getting angry, I am calmer and more peaceful. If anger doesn’t serve a purpose, we have the choice to let it go. Mindfulness practices enable us to exercise that choice.

5. Your emotions are not ‘You’:

I’ve come to realize that my emotions are just chemical reactions inside my body. They influence my mood and fuel my thoughts. But they are not me. I don’t have to act upon them. I am not sad, I feel sad. I am not lazy; I just have a habit of laziness.

Obviously, I highly recommend this book to anyone. The world would be a better place if more people got some control over their ego. At a time when we are so disconnected with reality that we are ruining our own home planet and waging war against own species, this book is a must read to regain some sanity.

 

Be more Present by Owning your Mortality

What is presence?

It’s being in one’s senses, not being caught up in one’s thoughts.

Have you ever feared that life’s just passing you by and you’re not really experiencing it?Has it ever occurred to you that you’re not what you could be- right now? That you are running on some kind of power-saving mode? Then you have lack of presence.

Actually, all of humanity has lack of presence, except some exceptional people. But that doesn’t mean everyone else is operating on the same level of consciousness. It varies greatly. The more present you are, the more enjoyable your life is. And not only enjoyable, but you also become more efficient as you can see things as they truly are and not be biased by preconceived opinions.

Presence lets you cultivate your own persona. It lets you break free of societal conditioning.

What does owning your mortality have to do with presence?

To understand that, you have to understand what truly blocks presence. We do have the answer. It’s your thoughts about past and future. If you can free yourself from those thoughts, voila! you’re present.

When you truly understand that you’re going to die, it is then that you start living. It is then that you start valuing your present moments more. Owning your mortality let’s you live every moment as if it were your last. It makes you feel that something wonderful is in your hands, and it’s not going to last very long. So you might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

One simple trick

Jessy Itzler

I was watching Impact Theory the other day and something ‘Jessy Itzler’ mentioned that stuck to me. He used to calculate his remaining days on earth by subtracting his age from average male life expectancy. Then he would write that down on his hand everyday.

I tried this for a while. It truly made a difference. It sounds morbid and depressing. Maybe it is; a little bit. But it’s a necessary dose of truth that I needed in my life. And I am thankful that I did it. It let me focus on what’s truly important to me and look through all the bullshit I’ve been telling myself.

Try this out for a day or two. See if this works for you!

Eckhart with Dalai Lama

If you want to take your presence to the next level then do check out Eckhart Tolle on YouTube. He is a master of presence. His book ‘The Power of Now’ always helps me gain sanity. It’s one of my favorite book.

 

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