Keeping Your Mind in the Present

Some of us are very adept at staying mentally present in the here and now.  Others like me, have to work at it.  I am a day dreamer.  For much of my life, my mind just wandered aimlessly here and there.  I had a difficult time staying focused on the task at hand.  I wouldn’t pay attention during conversations.  It seemed I was always some place else.  My relationships suffered, my work and productivity suffered, my education suffered and I wasn’t happy.  My mind was seldom in the present and there is no joy in that. 

I had a propensity for driftiness, I suppose, all my life.  It was compounded by a few pitfalls that were a common part of mine and most, modern lives.

1. Television: Vegetating in front of the TV for hours contributes to an undisciplined, mushy mind.  Television is not intrinsically bad, but aimless hours of channel surfing contributes significantly to a wandering mind that has difficulty staying here in the moment.
2. Boredom:  Time spent doing nothing of interest invites the mind to wander off into day-dreaming.  It is important to chill once in a while, but to maintain an alert, attentive mind give your mind a purpose and put it to use.  There is really no excuse for boredom.  Boredom is not the same as letting your mind out of the harness once in a while.
3. Inadequate Sleep:  Staying up late and sleeping late has a definite effect of the alertness of the mind. 
4. Poor Nutrition:  Too much sugar, no breakfast, little fiber; the problem eating habits go on and on.
5. Isolation:  Inattentive minds tend to grow more and more isolated.  Who wants to remain in a miserable here and now.  Isolation, whether because of withdrawal or rejection, always leads to mentally living in a fantasy world outside of the present and beyond reality.
6. Lack of Discipline:  Minus a bedtime, chores, consistent homework sessions, regular mealtimes, personal accountability, all of which train the mind to discipline itself, a mind is left without essential skills for mental self-mastery.
7. Worry:  Worry is probably the most common place the mind spends time away from the present.  Engage your future with a plan, with faith and with preparation.  Worry never helped the future with a single thing.

So, if you’d like to be more mentally firm and present, avoid those pitfalls.  If you haven’t, here are some suggestions to bring your mind back to the present where it can join your heart and body in experiencing joy.

1. Actively Listen:  Practice attentively listening to the people you encounter.  Forget about anything you may want to say.  Just LISTEN!  Ask questions, be earnest about learning all you can.  As you do this, you will experience the magnificence of being present in someone else’s life.  Plus, you’ll be considered a master conversationalist.
2. Read:  Have you ever read two or three pages of a book only to realize you have no idea what you had just read?  It happens to most of us.  Keep at it, go back and read it again.  The more you read the more you will learn to stay in the moment. 
3. Check Yourself:  Learn to check in periodically to see where your mind is presently focused.  An old joke asked, “What if your mind wandered and never came back?”  You’ll find it gone, bring it back, again and again.  It will begin to happen less and less.
4. Foster Your Curiosity:  Keep learning.  Even after you finish school, study.  Enjoy and observe the world around you.  Ask questions about the things and people that surround you.
5. Write:  Your mind cannot be anywhere else while you’re writing.  If you are honest, while you’re at it, you’ll also attract your heart to that same moment.
6. Meditate:  The discipline of meditation is all about being in the moment.  Learn to do it regularly and your mind will settle to the peaceful appreciation of each instant of your life.
7. Love:  I think the main reason we mentally flee the present is fear.  The main attraction to the present is love.  Love of life, love of people, love of learning bring us to now and to joy.
8. Set Goals:  Planning for the future is entirely different than spending mental time there.  A good plan is prepared in the present.  Assign yourself “here and now” steps toward accomplishing your goals.  The future is constructed of bricks we create in the moment we call now.  We cannot fully know the joy of that future achievement if we cannot enjoy the moments that lead to it.

What does all this have to do with JOY?  Read:  Your Heart, Your Head and Your Backside.

Take Action:

If any of this was helpful to you, capture it for yourself by writing your impressions about it.  As you write reflect on something you might commit yourself to in order to move toward fuller joy.