You’ve probably been told or heard from someone that you should be present. You know… Live in the moment. Be in the NOW.
Eckhart Tolle wrote a whole book on the subject.
Indeed, presence is important. Presence means being aware and attentive to this moment and every moment. It also means being focused on the task at hand, whether that is a work project, speaking to you children, or working out. It means living your life with awareness.
Admit it…Like me, you spend a lot of your time in other moments rather than in this one. You look at your calendar, examine other people’s moments on Facebook, or think about what you did or the interactions you had today. You are distracted even when you are sitting across the table from a friend or family member at a restaurant. You find it hard to focus on your work or the job at hand.
Our fast-paced and chaotic lives have not helped us be present. With so much information constantly streaming at us, we end up with a constant case of Bright-Shiny-Object Syndrome.
Present Means Undistracted
When you are present, you are undistracted. You are fully conscious or aware in any situation. For example, when you speak to someone, you are focused only on that person.
Imagine what your relationship would be like if you were totally present. No cell phone, television, computer, or other distraction. Just you looking into the eyes of someone else…listening, experiencing, noticing, hearing. You could be interacting with your boss, a child, a significant other, a friend, or a coach.
Communication with presence might be entirely different than your regular interactions, right?
Imagine that type of presence at work or when you go to the gym. You would only concentrate on one task. You’d have the ability to tune out everything else and be in the moment with whatever needs your attention.
Presence Changes Your State
Your emotional, mental, or energetic state has a huge degree of influence on your behavior, mindset, and beliefs. Presence can help you achieve productive states in which you experience being in the flow or achieving higher levels of productivity.
The reason is simple. When present, you are focused on the moment. When you manage your distraction and become focused on the moment, you gain clarity, calm, and awareness. Your heightened attention enhances your perception of what is before you. You have an increased capacity to hear, see, feel, smell, and even intuit.
In such a state, you might find yourself in the flow or able to tap into your inner wisdom or extra sensory perceptions.
Presence Helps You Connect with Source
When you learn to become present, you gain access to your higher self and Source. After all, God exists in the moment. This one. This one, this one…and so on.
You can find the hand of God in the past. You can pray for connection with Source in the future. But if you just get quiet and focus on this moment, you’ll find the Divine Presence.
Nowhere else.
And when you stay present, you can access your constant connection to the Divine—your Higher Self. When this happens, you gain access to your wisdom and spiritual core. In this way, you connect with yourself on an entirely different level.
3 Ways to Become More Present
If you struggle to be present, here are three ways you can pull yourself back into the moment.
- Set an hourly alarm on your phone. Every time you hear the alarm, stop, get centered, and notice where you are. Are you in the past or the future? Are you in fear? Bring your attention back to your breath and your body. Take a deep breath, and focus what is in front of you right now.
- Breathe. We don’t need attention or presence to breathe. However, when you focus on your breath, you center yourself. You meditate (even for a minute) and drop a few thoughts. YOu reconnect with your Higher Self. You move back into the Now. You become present.
- Turn off distraction. Get rid of anything that takes your attention, such as your cell phone, social media sites, the phone, the television, etc. With the constant pull to look at something else eliminated, you can turn your attention to the moment.
Presence Allows You to Live Fully
Most of us spend our time—and attention—on the past or the future. We rarely exist in the moment. Therefore, we can’t live fully. How could we when we aren’t living now, present in our current situation or experience?
Being present allows you to live fully…to experience fully.
If you aren’t feeling enlivened, passionate, and involved in life, you probably need to become more present in the moment and every situation. It’s time to eliminate distractions and pay attention to what is in front of you. As Ram Dass said, “Be here now.”
Do you find it difficult to be present in your life?
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