How Do I Live In The Present?

How do I live in the present?

A young man visits a wise old man and asks him:

-How can I live in the present?

-Very easy, when you eat eat, when you walk walk, when you hug hug, and when you chop onion chop onion.

“Anyone does that,” said the young apprentice.

-No, when you bathe you are thinking about your work. When you cook you are thinking about the argument with your partner. And when he walks he is thinking about taking a vacation.

Living in the present

Body, emotion and thought are the three levels of consciousness. And although our body and our emotions are always in the present time, the mind can be both in the future and in the past And in fact, it is where he usually spends the most time.

However, when we think about something that has already happened or project a situation that may or may not happen in the future, we are generating an emotion that happens in the body, in the here and now, on the plane of reality. And the problem is that every thought is actually a story, a way of interpreting facts. Hence, we often sacrifice our well-being in the present due to wanderings of the mind.

This does not mean that it is not okay or productive to think about our past and our future. Of course it is! That It allows us to achieve goals and teaches us not to repeat mistakes The problem is in the thinking that arises automatically and that escapes our control.

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state of flow

When body, emotions and mind are synchronized in the present moment is when we are in what many psychology students call the state of flow. Flow is that feeling we have when we are so immersed in an activity that an hour seems to have happened in a minute

There where the clock does not exist. Whether painting, doing our favorite sport or playing sudoku. Because? Because when we find ourselves so focused on the present moment, the mind works to serve us rather than dominate us hence flow is considered a state of mindfulness, that is, full attention.

The act of thinking

Thinking should be a voluntary act, not an automatic fact. We must have the ability to choose what we want to think in order to live a more conscious life. Remember that you are not your thoughts hence you can observe them and change them, that is why it is so important not to identify with them.

If you really were your thoughts, you couldn’t modify them. What you are is the one who observes, the one who has the ability to choose how to act in the face of the circumstances that life puts in your path.

Remember that it is not about fighting with the mind. But to detect and choose to be another way. The first step is to recognize when the mind leaves home, that is, when it leaves our present. That is consciousness

The second is to return to the present. And while it sounds simple, sometimes we can get so wrapped up in our thoughts that it seems impossible to achieve. A good way to achieve this is through guided meditation, whose ultimate goal is precisely to focus our attention on the present moment.

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Meditation as a tool

Note that the mind is not designed to change In fact, it is designed to use the least amount of energy possible, which is why it tries to shorten paths by always following its reaction to the same stimulus in the same way.

Therefore, in order not to become disillusioned in the practice of meditation, it is important to assume that the mind is likely to get lost in automatic thoughts again. But with patience we must return again and again to the present until the habit is generated. The important thing is to recognize what our habitual mental patterns are in order to choose new ones that play in favor of our inner peace, our happiness and self-realization.

In Purely App You can find a large number of free guided meditations that will be of great help to generate the habit that science has shown improves our mood and even our immune system.

Remember that life is here, right now, as you read these words This is the arena in which things happen. But if we waste our energy thinking about things that have already happened or projecting future scenarios, we lose the opportunity to modify what is within our reach in the present. Whether through deciding to forgive someone, leaving resentment behind, calling a friend with whom we argued, or taking a moment to be grateful for the good things in our lives.

We are waiting for you at PuraMente App, where you can find more than 200 sessions focused on increasing your well-being, improving rest and reducing stress.

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