The present moment is the eternal instant, where our consciousness lives. Anytime we make an effort to be in the present moment, we’re activating our consciousness. Anytime we make an effort to be aware of where we are and what we’re doing, we’re working with our consciousness.
A lot of the difficult emotions that we experience regularly are often triggered by our subconscious pulling us out of the present moment. We can get angry reliving memories of the past where we may have been mistreated. We can feel insecure when remembering embarrassing events from the past. We can get anxious and nervous by worrying about the future.
We’ll find that the better we get at staying in the present moment, the better we’ll get at controlling these negative emotions. Whenever we feel ourselves getting angry or guilty or embarrassed about something from the past, we can just put ourselves into the present moment. Whenever we feel nervous or worried about the future, we can put ourselves in the present moment. Simply ask yourself “where am I right now, and what am I doing?”
Luckily there are an extensive amount of methods to practice being in the present moment. There are all kinds of activities all throughout our daily lives that we can use to practice being present.
Activity
Pick a routine activity, like getting ready in the morning, and be fully conscious of your actions. Be in the moment and do nothing mechanically. Don’t identify with any thoughts or images that enter your mind. Don’t identify with any emotions. So when you do your morning routine, whether it’s coffee, breakfast, shave, shower, whatever it is, be conscious for this. It could be multiple things throughout the day, like tying your shoes, or even driving to work.
While driving be conscious, in the present moment, not thinking about the past, not going into memories, and not worrying about the future. Be aware of that car and everything around you, through the windows and in your mirrors. If everyone did this while driving, we’d all be paying low auto insurance and the road would be a safer place. You could pick a mundane or repetitive activity at work like filing papers. If you work around heavy machinery then that’d be a perfect time to practice being conscious. There’d be a lot less accidents.
You could use your weekend chores around your home to practice being conscious. All of your household chores like sweeping, vacuum cleaning, dusting, mopping, scrubbing, laundry cleaning, cooking, and washing dishes are all perfect opportunities to practice being present. You could also use outdoor chores like gardening, weeding, watering plants, raking leaves, shoveling snow, or washing the car.
If you choose washing dishes then you literally should be “picking up the plate, scrubbing it, rinsing it, placing it in the rack. Grab another one and repeat.” It seems silly but that’s what you need to do. You shouldn’t be “thinking about work tomorrow” or “looking forward to this weekend”, and then going through your chores in a mechanical, subconscious manner.
Do not Dwell in the Past, do not Dream of the Future, Concentrate the mind on the Present Moment.
Buddha
We don’t want to think of ourselves as robots, but so much of our day is routine and mechanical. The problem with that level of mechanics is it allows us to go on autopilot. We drove the same route to work so many times we don’t have to think about it anymore. Our trained actions can take over that while our mind wanders.
We’ve washed ourselves in the shower so many times we don’t even have to think about it. So in the shower we’re thinking about what we’re going to do at work that day. While we’re driving in the car we’re thinking about what we’re going to do at work that day. When we get to work we’re thinking about what we’re going to do at home that night. When we get home that night we’re thinking about what we’re going to do on the weekend. We’re always somewhere else. We’re never in the present moment while we wander around like robots. That’s why we have car accidents, and people walking into things or tripping over things.
Strangely our society is pushing that further. We’ve all heard the concept of “multi-tasking” and how “advantageous” it is. It’s been proven that we really aren’t good at multi-tasking. It’s the illusion of doing a whole lot of things while the chances of error spikes and productivity decreases.
One small instant a day of living consciously will have an amazing impact on the course of our life. When we do all of these chores and activities in the present moment, we’re essentially exercising our consciousness. Over time our consciousness will grow and develop. Just like if you want to lose weight, you’ll exercise a little bit every day and next thing you know a couple months have gone by and you’ve lost a bunch of weight. It’s the same idea with exercising our consciousness. If you pick a routine activity to be conscious every day, overtime you’ll slowly develop that consciousness.
One of the first things you’ll discover is how much of a force the subconscious is. It attempts to distract you more and more in crazier different ways. So that really allows you to understand a bit more about the subconscious. If you’re having trouble focusing on any task you might find it helpful to just look at what you’re doing. Actually look at your hands as they’re working. Look at whatever tools or appliances you may be using at the time. This should help you remain focused on your task at hand.
If you develop this practice enough you’ll start to spend less time identifying with the subconscious and all its aspects. When you have anger or other emotions trying to manifest, you’ll have more control over them. You won’t identify with difficult aspects of your psychology as easily and you’ll be able to stay in that present moment.
Another great exercise to practice being present is to take an Awareness Walk in nature. Find a hiking trail at some local nature reserve and go for a stroll. Ideally try to pick a trail that isn’t overly crowded or choose a time when the place isn’t particularly busy. Then just casually walk through it.
Be conscious of every step you take and be mindful of your surroundings. Observe all the trees and bushes and leaves and roots and plants. Listen to the birds and insects chirping and the squirrels and chipmunks moving. Observe and listen to any water flowing through rivers and streams. You’ll find an awareness walk is a great mind-clearing or relaxation exercise for when you’re angry or stressed out or anxious or nervous.
You might think a routine activity or chore like washing dishes is “boring”, and you’d want to think of something more pleasant to pass the time. We do that with all kinds of tasks and duties in our life. We’re faced with an activity we don’t want to do and we’ll do the task mechanically while our mind is somewhere else.
Now we can look at all of these mundane tasks and chores from a different perspective. Start to consider them as opportunities to work on strengthening your consciousness. Instead of seeing a chore as an annoying, tedious thing that you have to do, think of it as a challenging exercise for your consciousness.
Try to see how long you can remain focused on your task before you start identifying with any random thoughts or emotions. It’s like a game. You’ll be more motivated to do these mundane tasks in your life, knowing they can be used to strengthen your consciousness, which will ultimately give you better control over any psychological problems you may be struggling with.