How Being In The Present Moment Helps To Achieve More In A Day
Here Now Is More
Being in the present moment has its benefits. You may find it difficult at first to concentrate on being in the present because many times our minds are preoccupied but once you master the art of improving concentration it will do you wonders.
Life is all about experiencing different moments firsthand. I realized that by losing a lot of my time not enjoying or simply not being in the present. Once time is lost it's gone and we can never bring it back. In this article, I will explain how being in the present can help you not lose time and enjoy every moment. Not just enjoying, it can also help you in your career!
We will first go through the different benefits that I will explain in a nutshell. Then we will discuss some ways to concentrate on the present.
Benefits of being in the present:
- Enjoyment of your time
- Experiencing life firsthand
- Taking advantage of opportunities
- Gaining knowledge and using it later
Enjoyment of your time
Being in the present allows you to enjoy your time fully. You stay in the present moment and can avail the advantage of being in it. By not thinking about any other thing you can be in the particular moment and enjoy what it has to offer. For example, if you are at a social event and for some reason, you are thinking about something which prevents you from fully being in the moment deprives you of the enjoyment it has to offer. For example, if you let your mind off your overthinking you can talk to someone and keep your mind off those intrusive thoughts or just simply thoughts about anything else. This includes thoughts like, “Oh this place is so boring”, I cannot wait to leave this place. Maybe you can find someone interesting to talk to and just talk about some stuff that can help direct your way of thinking in another direction.
Experiencing life firsthand
This is important because when you are not in the present moment you don't feel the particular moment. Emotionally, you cannot experience your time. If you come across someone who is sharing or telling you something that means a lot to them and you just keep on saying yes to them and have something else in the back of your mind then you can’t feel the other person. If you concentrate and listen to the other person you can get some experience of your own and relate to your life moments. The presence of the mind also helps you to make quick and effective decisions that otherwise you would not make if you are not fully in the present moment.
Taking advantage of opportunities
Opportunities come by and it is up to us to avail of them and take advantage of them. For instance, if we identify that there is an opportunity to avail, we can put our mind to it and make use of it. If we are not in the present moment we would not understand the importance of it. We can take advantage of them and later on, cherish them as compared to not taking any advantage of them just because we did not understand the importance of it due to us not being in the present moment.
Gaining knowledge and using it later
When we are in the present moment, our observation is also up to the point that we learn by observing. We gain knowledge from it. We can remember different instances and use that information later on to make better decisions or become effective in doing something. Life is a learning process and every moment has something to offer in terms of teaching us, so we should learn from it. The presence of mind helps to achieve that to a great extent. For example, we encounter someone and we assess our interaction with them, we observe how they talk and respond to us. We find some things that teach us if we are unsure ourselves as to how to act in a certain way. When we see how the other person acted we can then make our changes to it and act in a more effective way that we think is right.
How do you concentrate in the present?
Well, it is not that easy at first but not impossible at all! First of all, we look and feel everything that is around us. What I do is listen, feel, see and say. By listening I hear what sound there is. By feeling I try to touch anything with my hands. For example, if I am sitting at a table I use my fingers to feel it. I see what is in front of me like if there is a painting on the wall or simply what color the wall is. Lastly, I say to myself, wow today is quite interesting. Normally this is what I do and then I try to drift myself and my focus into the present.
In conclusion, being in the present is very helpful. Another example is that it helps to overcome feelings of self-doubt. For example, if you try to doubt yourself and think that maybe you did not do something properly or if you don't remember talking about something, you can simply say to yourself, “My mind was present at that time and I did that thing according to my best judgment and knowledge”
Hopefully, sharing my thoughts on the presence of mind has helped you in some way or the other!