The Present Moment
Entering the present moment sounds like a bit of a contradictory phrase. After all, “it is only ever now”, as the spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle is fond of saying.
The problem is that while we might always physically be present in whatever location our body happens to be in, mentally, most of us rarely actually live in the moment. Anxiety, by definition, entails worrying about the future, which means mentally not being aware of your current experience.
Even when in the grips of in-the-moment panic, your worry is not about right now; it is about the prospect of dying or some other terrifying thing happening. Anxiety is rife in society if statistics are anything to go by.
Rumination about past mistakes and failures is something common to all but the most privileged humans and it is the default thought process among many depressed people.
Even those who are lucky enough to live what would be considered a life without much suffering from anxiety or depression tend to spend most of their time mentally outside the present moment, making plans, pondering whether to have a takeaway for dinner, among a plethora of other things the mind likes to preoccupy itself with.
Most of us have had experiences in life of intensely living in the moment and we tend to recognize them as times that profoundly impact us, often for the better. Anyone who has ever been at a concert completely engrossed in the performance of a musician they enjoy knows about this experience. So does anyone who has ever had sex, climbed a mountain, played sport.
Life takes place and unfolds right now, which makes it somewhat of a travesty that many of us tend to sleepwalk through life without paying attention to it. Indian yogis and Buddhist monks were on to something when they espoused the virtues of being present in life.
The Attention Economy
But how do you become more present? In the modern world, it is exceedingly difficult to pay attention to the nature of experience as it is right now because there’s always something more compelling competing for our attention spans.
Addictive smartphone notifications, social media platforms, 24/7 newsreels, Netflix, video games, porn, Internet browsing, even books…the list is endless. Such mediums ostensibly seem to provide an ideal outlet for escaping mental anguish, however, they mostly just avoid and perpetuate suffering in the long run.
Pretty much all modern big tech companies see human attention as a scarce commodity and a valuable resource. Therefore, all technology companies compete with each other for our attention. The result is an onslaught of notifications, apps, and content that is difficult to resist.
Genuine feelings of contentedness tend to arise when we realize that truly being present in life eliminates most of our suffering.
Furthermore, when we are not present enough, life seems to flash by too fast. Days rapidly merge into weeks and before you know it, six months have passed in a timespan that felt like about 8 weeks.
Ways to Enter the Present Moment
But how do we enter this elusive present moment? Well, there are a few important ways that are simple yet require discipline.
Entering the present moment is something that Jeff Olson, author of an excellent book called The Slight Edge, would consider as “easy to do but easy not to do”. According to Olson, our results in life, whether the goal is improved health or reduced mental suffering, are dependent on implementing simple daily habits that are easy to do but also easy not to do.
1) Listen
“The easiest way to get into the meditative state is to begin by listening”. The spiritual entertainer Alan Watts uttered those words and I have found them to be very useful. Just listening to the general hum and buzz of the world is a brilliant way to become more present in life.
2) Get into the Flow State
Eckhart Tolle describes eternity as being outside of time. This is also an apt description of what it feels like to be in a state of flow. It is important to note that being in a state of flow is not the same as distracting yourself. In a state of flow, you completely merge with both the task you are doing and the present moment in such a way that you live entirely in the now.
Flow involves complete mindful attention and focus on what you are doing. This is what distinguishes flow from mere distraction, which typically occurs by focusing our mind on some other place, fantasy, or time.
To get into flow, pick a task, eliminate all possible distractions, and focus solely on that task. For me, it’s playing a musical instrument or writing that achieves this state. For others, it could be something like cleaning your home, building a bookshelf, or climbing a mountain.
3) Eat Mindfully
Eating gives us a great opportunity to become more present and it’s an opportunity most of us waste at least three times each day. Most of us cram food into our mouths and try to clear our plates as quickly as possible. We treat eating as a kind of distraction that we do out of necessity rather than savouring each bite.
By truly paying attention while eating, not only do we become more present, we also better tune into our real levels of satiety. We then make more informed and healthier choices about the amount of food we actually need.
4) Focus on Breathing
It would be a disservice if I was to write a piece on how to become more present without mentioning the classic method of focusing on the breath. When you focus on breathing, you notice that your thoughts naturally come and go; they are always in flux. This teaches you that you don’t need to attach to any particular thought.
Much of our suffering arises because we treat our thoughts as these sticky things. How often have you woken up thinking, “oh shit, I feel so unhappy with life” and then pursued that thought for the remainder of the day, focusing on everything that is making you unhappy?
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t try to fix aspects of your life that make you unhappy. But fusing with our thoughts too readily is the driving force behind a lot of mental anguish.
A 10 to 15-minute focused session every day on the breath is an incredibly powerful way to become more present during the rest of your waking hours. When you learn not to attach so much to thoughts, you naturally become more aware of your current experience without mentally labelling it.
5) Focus on Tactile Sensations
Pick up an object, like a marble or something. Hold it in your hand and truly focus on what it feels like. I sometimes use this technique when I am stuck in an anxious or ruminative thought loop and I find it very helpful. I grab a nearby object and just focus on how it feels for 10 or 15 minutes.
6) Grab a Beer or Two
Alcohol is a poison and it comes with a range of negative health effects. However, I am not going to deny that one of the most pleasing aspects of indulging in a couple of tipples is how remarkably it clears mental chatter.
A common way people describe how they feel after drinking is that the booze “takes the edge off”. The reasons for this are chemical—alcohol decreases excitability in the brain and increases relaxation.
I advise you to treat booze with caution because it is very easy to begin to use booze as a crutch for achieving peace of mind. In the long run, this will cause problems in your life.
I hope you have got something from this post and that you will use some of these tips to experience life as it occurs right now instead of spending too much time fused with thoughts about the past or future. Please share this post on social media if you enjoyed it or comment if you have any thoughts.