How do I live in the present?

A young man visits an old wise man and asks:

-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.

"That's what anyone does," said the young apprentice.

-No, when you take a bath you are thinking about your work. When he cooks he is thinking about the argument with his 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 of something that has already happened or we project a situation that may or may not happen in the future, we are generating a emotion what happens in the body, in the here and now, in the plane of reality. And the problem is that all thought is actually a story, a way of interpreting the facts. Hence, many times we sacrifice our well-being in the present for wanderings of the mind.

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

• Related article: "What is Mindfulness? The 7 answers to your questions

state of flow

When body, emotions, and mind are in sync in the present moment, it is when we are in what many psychology scholars call the state of flow (to flow). The flow is that feeling we have when we are so involved in an activity that an hour seems to have passed in a minute.

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

• You may be interested: "Positive Psychology: How Can You Be Really Happy?"

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 about 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 change them. What you are is the one who observes, 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 otherwise. The first step is to recognize when the mind leaves home, that is, when it leaves our present. that's 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.

• Related article: "Rumination: The Annoying Vicious Circle of Thinking"

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 going through 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 we generate the habit. 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 system immunological.

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 it's through deciding to forgive someone, leaving a grudge behind, calling a friend with whom we argue or taking a moment to thank 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.