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.

 

What is the Purpose of My Life? (Part 2)

Story 1:

Death is certain, life is meaningless. We are running on borrowed time and might die at any moment. We don’t take anything with us. Soon, we won’t even exist.

Well that’s one story. We can choose to tell a different one. Maybe a more apt description is- we can tell the same story from a different angle.

Story 2:

Somehow big bang happened. Laws of physics started to reign supreme. Time began. Things condensed and stars, planets etc appeared. One planet got some acid and stuff that can pass its data to the next generation. Natural selection took in charge. Soon there were life everywhere. Humans appeared. They have feelings and everything else, things that the other animals have. But they also think. Which is simply learning from the past and planning for the future.

But, some of them started suffering from their haunted past or glorious past they no longer have (or stand to lose) and worrying about the future.

This defeats the purpose of learning and planning. We learn and plan to make our experience of the world better. Latching on to the past just produces unnecessary suffering. Worrying about the future is wrong as death is our future. Entropy is real. Everything, even life will be taken away from us. All we truly have is the present moment. And the lessons from our past and our ability to plan for the future.

This makes us human.

If the purpose of a shoe is to shield it’s owner’s feet from the ground and the purpose of a  dog is to be a dog, our purpose is to learn from the past and plan for the future. While we live in the moment.

They aren’t at odds with each others. The lessons aren’t in the past, they are with us now. They plans aren’t in the future- they are here with us right now. Now is when we apply the lessons and take action for the future. Life is now.

Then I conclude, the purpose of my life is to live in the moment while I apply lessons from the past and take proper action for the future. Because we can. Because this is our feature. The purpose of a pen is to write because- it can write. That’s its best feature.

Do I like this purpose? Well mostly no. I’d rather contribute to something that would last forever. But sadly, we haven’t come across any such thing that needs my help. Like, laws of physics may last forever, but how to I contribute towards it? It doesn’t need my help!

Did Keto Diet give me a Spiritual Experience?

The short answer: No.

This is not to say that there were no mental benefits of going through keto diet. There’s plenty. Here’s how I illustrated the benefits in an earlier post:

The results were drastic. I found both physical and mental benefits. I lost 3-4 pounds every week. My body felt lighter and I was less lethargic. My sleep cycle was better and I woke up early in the morning with no sleepiness. I enjoyed this benefit the most. Usually it takes me a lot of time to truly wake up. But, when on ketosis, I seemed to wake up instantly. I felt fresh and focused.

 

Naturally one should ask next if this induced a spiritual experience or not. Because, many spiritual teachers have played with their diet. Some went through gruesome fasting whereas others chose to be vegan.

Well, in my case, it didn’t. I don’t know of anyone else who experienced it either. So, I guess if you want to try keto diet, you should only expect the physical and mental benefits. Which are a lot in the first place. Here’s my experience with keto diet- How I lost 24 pounds in 60 days (Keto Diet)

Here’s some ways to boost your brain (including ketosis) – This is how to increase your brain power

For spiritual experiences, I guess meditation remains the best tool overall. Doing ‘The Work’ with Byron Katie, listening to ‘The Power of Now’ audiobook, watching a river flow or just wandering alone in the city street at night could be other very potent ways of inducing a strong spiritual experience.

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.

 

Do your best now

I had to focus, on my surroundings. It enhances mind, one Quora post said. I had to try it.

I was in a rickshaw. Leisurely sitting while someone else worked hard to pull me. There was no shortage of sound to hear and things to see. I saw cars, nameplates, buildings, trees, billboards, people, dust, smoke, sun-rays, the sky, clouds etc etc. There was sounds of birds chirping, car horns, engine sounds, wind, rickshaw bells, people and a weird silence beneath all the sounds. I tried to listen to all of them. And see everything I could.

But it was hard to continuously focus on this moment. Thoughts and feelings would take me to the past, or make me worry about the future. I felt tired from fighting with them. But the overall feeling was good. I felt more powerful, more confident but not in an arrogant way. Lights seemed brighter and I noticed a lot of different sounds that I usually ignore. I felt good. I wondered if this was the secret of Sherlock Homes.

Another amazing change was the clarity of thoughts. I was seeing bullshit in my own thoughts.

I saw two birds playing, flapping their wings. For a second I thought I wish I could fly like them. Then I remembered, nothing else can add to me. Even if I end up flying like them, soon I’ll be looking for some other cool thing and be frequently suicidal thinking what is the meaning of all this. Nothing really can add to what I am already. I will either find contentment in who I am or never.

The following thoughts are cliches now. We run after things, never satisfied. Nothing new changes how we feel about ourselves. This is not new. It’s been there since ages.

I thought about breaking this cycle. I want to not fret about what I’m going to get every second. Rather focus on what I have. I want to savor every moment.

But wouldn’t that be stupid? How will I plan for a better future? What if I slack off?

Well, there is good news. When you focus on this moment, the quality of what you do rises. The quality of how you respond to your environment rises too. And, you get a feeling of stronger will power. I don’t think will power itself rises. But when you have to  do just a micro task in the moment , it’s easier.

What about future planning? Well life is the dancer and we are the dance. Much of what happens to us is out of luck. But their is much we can do to influence our fate. No doubt about that to. Maybe Its better to think of this as a co-creation where you and life come together to complete the future building process. A good mood to enter this process is playfulness. The worst meed is neediness. The needier one is, the harder it is to do the right things. If one is worried about the future, it’s more likely that s/he is needy. When one is focused on the duties of this moment, s/he can operate from a playful state of mind.

 

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.

 

Please like and share this post if this helped you. Follow this blog for being up to date with all my latest posts. See you in the next post 🙂